In That Moment
by TooDarnLazy
Summary: Everyone's favourite idiot had disappeared for years. Then one night, the Rokudaime caught a blonde, blue eyed Akatsuki member in the Hokage's library. Uzumaki Naruto? Not quite... Nonyaoi
1. Chapter 1

**The Author Says:** New story! heheh. the chapters of this story will be shorter than those of my other fic, I Think I, coz I challenged myself to be less longwinded and more to-the-point. Updates might be slower than that of ITI, for two reasons. One, coz I'm actually writing this, as in pen-and-paper writing, which I find I much prefer to writing on the computer. Yup, I'm old-fashioned like that. So this means that I actually have to type it up after writing. Two, I'm only writing this fic when I have free time at work, or when I want to take a short break from writing ITI. Therefore, updates might be a little slow.

**Warnings:** Probable slow and erratic updates, relatively short chapters, probably cliched ideas, usage of Japanese words, author's laziness, author's limited vocabulary, probable OOC-ness, though I'll try my best to keep 'em in character, possible spoilers, and some other things that I'll warn you about next chapter, coz telling you now would spoil the little surprise XD. If you're not interested, please don't read and don't flame.

**Disclaimer:** Kishimoto-sensei is doing a superb job with Naruto. I couldn't have possibly come up with all his cool characters, wonderful conspiracies and kick-ass fights.

U/L: 30th November 2007

**Extra Note:** This chapter has been reloaded and certain mistakes have been corrected. Much thanks to **Spork or Foon**!

* * *

Brilliant cerulean blue eyes took one last glance at the village. 

Their gaze rested on the five stone heads carved prominently into the mountain that protected one side of the village.

One last look, then the blue eyes were turned away.

* * *

**In That Moment**

by _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 1**

* * *

_Five years later_

Uchiha Sasuke frowned inwardly as he walked out of the darkened building. As usual, he was the last to leave the Hokage Tower, and the stars were winking in the Prussian blue sky that was almost the same shade as his hair. The brunet didn't bother to nod to the two chuunin guards at the main door. He had been ignoring them for years; he wasn't about to start acknowledging them now. He slid his hands into the pockets of his standard-issue jounin pants that he wore with the usual dark blue jounin long-sleeved turtleneck and dark green Konoha vest. They were… sufficient, he supposed. He didn't particularly like it, but wearing the same outfit for years allowed him to get used to it, although he mostly still preferred the loose haori-like top he used to wear when at Otogakure. At least with that shirt he could shuck it off easily to make way for the wings his level 2 curse seal transformation came with. He had worked through quite a number of jounin turtlenecks and Konoha vests due to the transformation. Well, he always got new ones free of charge, so he wasn't complaining. A perk of the job. It was just the hassle of having to replace ripped uniforms that irked him.

Sasuke started towards his apartment. He had been given a rather spacious apartment in a quiet district, and he didn't have to pay rent for it, only the utilities. It was another perk of the job. He snorted at the foolish generosity of the Council of Konoha.

_ANBU 12's report scroll._

He stopped short as the thought popped into his head, then scowled to himself. _Careless!_ he scolded himself, then quickly turned around and retraced his steps. The chuunin door guards raised their eyebrows a little at his return, but he ignored them and went in, heading straight to the office next to the Hokage's. He passed the Hokage's quarters and noted that no light was coming from the crack under the door – Tsunade must be asleep.

He continued on towards the office and passed the Hokage's library on his right. He was about to take another step past the library door when his keen eyes noted something amiss – the door was opened a crack.

Sasuke was instantly on the alert, Sharingan activated. He knew for a fact that the door had been closed and locked with chakra seals when he left (he scoffed at the simplicity of the chakra seals). No one had the authorization to access the library except the Hokage, the Council Elders, Sakura as the Chief Medic, the ANBU Commander and Vice-Commander, and himself.

The brunet pressed himself beside the library door, and a brace of kunai and shuriken appeared in each hand. He quickly sensed for chakra signatures within his vicinity and found none. That, however, didn't mean much, and he knew it. Any A- and S-rank shinobi and even some B-rank nins would know how to effectively mask their chakra if they weren't performing jutsu.

Just then, he felt a faint chakra flare from inside the library. The unknown ninja must have used either an escape jutsu or a concealment genjutsu, Sasuke reasoned, then scoffed. If the unknown ninja had used a concealment genjutsu, it would have done him as much good as trying to hide an elephant behind one's back, since Sasuke had the Sharingan.

But what troubled Sasuke when he felt the chakra was the familiarity of it. It was one that he felt he should know, yet couldn't swear as to its owner. He gritted his teeth – the chakra felt vaguely like _that_ idiot's but it couldn't possibly be his.

Thinking about the idiot made his heart hurt, so he shoved all thoughts of the idiot out of his head for the moment – he could brood about the idiot at home, like he did every night - and adjusted his grip on his weapons before slinking noiselessly into the library. With the Sharingan, he could easily pick out a humanoid shape pressed against the wall, its chakra glowing around its body. Sasuke slipped into an attacking stance and called out, "I know you're there against the wall. Show yourself and give up."

The brunet watched the figure stiffen when his voice rang out, then – was the person trembling lightly? He could see the person's chakra rippling lightly, indicative of trembling, before the person took a deep breath and dispelled the genjutsu. Sasuke scowled – he could no longer see the chakra outline, and neither could he see the person in the dark. He tensed, ready to fling his weapons at a second's notice when the person sighed and spoke, seemingly to himself.

"Of all people to find me, it had to be you, didn't it?"

Sasuke felt a surge of nervousness and annoyance. Nervousness because, like the chakra, the person's voice was vaguely familiar – he was sure he had heard something like this voice before, and yet it wasn't the exact same voice he remembered. Annoyance, because he couldn't be sure of the voice nor the chakra.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" he demanded, and kicked open the door behind him. Dim light from the corridor spilled into the library, casting a rectangle of light on the floor in front of the door.

If Sasuke could have had his way, he'd probably attack and capture the unknown ninja right away, the ninja probably missing a limb or two. However, because of his job, and the fact that they were in the Hokage's library – an extensive collection of valuable scrolls – meant that he had to take it slow, however much his hands itched to draw his chokuto.

Two tense seconds passed, then Sasuke heard a reluctant sigh, followed by footsteps shuffling nearer to where he was. Soon feet appeared in the dim light, followed quickly by a body covered in a long black cloak with red cloud designs outlined in white. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, remaining in his attacking stance. The ninja, however, kept his head and face out of the light.

"Akatsuki," Sasuke growled softly. He quickly formed a few handseals, and within five seconds an ANBU squad surrounded him, tense and alert as they faced the Akatsuki member.

The intruder was rather small in size, from what Sasuke could see. He couldn't determine whether the ninja was a male or female, since the ridiculous cloak effectively disguised any body shape. Sasuke squinted as his gaze rested on the cloaked nin's chest. Was it him or did the chest area swell a little?

"Take him into custody," Sasuke ordered the ANBU in a cold, authoritative voice. With a quick nod, the four ANBU members quickly tied down the Akatsuki member's hands by his? her? sides using chakra-enforced wires, and bound the person's feet as well. The cloaked figure fell to its butt when its feet were tied, and the Konoha nin were treated to a selection of curses.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Why didn't the Akatsuki member put up a fight?

Satisfied that the bound figure was secure, Sasuke slipped his weapons back into their holsters while smoothly turning on his heel and striding out of the library.

"Bring the prisoner to the Hokage's office and guard him while there while I wake the Godaime. If he escapes, you will be demoted – if you're not dead yet."

"You weren't kidding," Tsunade said in a slightly awed voice as she took in the seated figure of the restrained Akatsuki member in front of her. Beside the Hokage, Sasuke resisted the urge to snort in irritated disdain. Joking? Him?

Tsunade strode to her desk and seated herself. She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her desk, with her fingers interlaced.

"Who are you, and what does Akatsuki want from my library?" she asked authoritatively. Sasuke stood beside her, observing the prisoner surrounded by the ANBU squad in front of the Hokage's desk. Strangely enough, the prisoner hadn't so much as twitched, much less tried to escape when he went to fetch the Godaime.

In the light, he could see that the Akatsuki member had bright yellow hair; a shade that he had seen only on one other person. The rather spiky hairstyle painfully reminded him of _him_ as well, although Sasuke was quick to observe that this person's hair was long and went down into the collar of the cloak. There was no way that this person could be _him_. _He_ would never have kept his hair that long. They couldn't observe the nin's face, though, since the prisoner had their head bowed, and the yellow bangs and ridiculously high collar of the cloak were doing a good job of hiding the person's face. It was obvious, however, that the person was wearing a scratched hitai-ate around his forehead. Sasuke couldn't make out the insignia on the metal plate.

At the Hokage's voice, the prisoner gave an almost imperceptible flinch and very slowly raised their head.

Sasuke froze and felt himself stop breathing, and he could hear the Hokage's breath hitch beside him.

A woman's face stared back at them with disturbingly familiar features – beautiful cerulean blue eyes and three whisker-marks on each cheek. The whisker marks creased a little as the woman grinned, although there was no humour in her guarded, almost-dead eyes.

"Hey obaachan, yarou. Long time no see, eh?"

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**Glossary-of-sorts**

- Otogakure: Hidden Sound Village.

- haori: the jacket-like part worn over a men's kimono. basically I'm referring to what Sasuke wears when he was in Oto.

- chokuto: Sasuke's type of sword. It's not a katana, because katana are curved. Sasuke's blade is straight, and it's known as a chokuto.

- hitai-ate: forehead protector.

**The Author has More to Say:** Heeheehee... I think some of you can guess what the little surprise is ;-)

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

**The Author Says:** First off, I apologize for the late update. I had an emergency I had to attend to, and ended up traveling almost 800km in less than 24 hours. I love driving, but it was tiring. Hence the late update. Thank you so much for all the reviews :-)

U/L: 13th December 2007

**Extra Note:** The previous chapter has been re-uploaded at the same time this one is uploaded. No major changes, just the correction of some mistakes. I don't think it's really necessary to re-read chapter 1 :-)

* * *

**In That Moment**

by _TooDarnLazy _

**Chapter 2**

* * *

"Hey obaachan, yarou. Long time no see, eh?" 

Sasuke's heart nearly stopped. Could it be – ? Tsunade beat him to the question.

"N-narut-to?" she breathed shakily.

The blonde prisoner raised her eyebrows sarcastically. "Who, _Uzumaki_ Naruto?" she asked in a mocking tone. "Last I heard of _him_," she continued, emphasizing the last word, "he was dead."

Sasuke's heart plunged to his feet and felt blood drain from his face.

"It can't be… that idiot… he can't die! You're lying!" Sasuke's voice rose to an unheard-of pitch and volume by the last sentence. Tsunade interjected at the same time, "That's impossible! Naruto wouldn't die so easily!"

The woman laughed a mocking laugh that grated on Sasuke's ears. "Who said he died an easy death?" she asked. Her voice gave nothing away.

"Who are you?" the Godaime demanded, pounding a fist onto her desk, causing it to crack loudly.

The blonde snickered in cold amusement. "Careful, obaachan – you'll probably be needing a new desk soon. And teme… can't even respect the dead, huh? Must you still call him an idiot?"

"Only Naruto is allowed to call me obaachan/teme!" both Tsunade and Sasuke retorted heatedly at the same time.

The blonde prisoner chuckled. "Right. Which means that I'm allowed to."

Killing intent leaked from Sasuke as his Sharingan activated. "Stop playing games, onna! Who are you and why are you here? And why do you look so much like the dobe… like Naruto?" the brunette demanded. His last two words were put in rather hesitantly.

Tsunade's face crumpled. "You are Naruto, aren't you? I don't know what's going on, but I would swear you are Uzumaki Naruto."

"You would, huh? Funny thing is – I, on the other hand, would swear that I am not Uzumaki Naruto," the younger blonde replied, a cocky, mocking look on her face. She grinned, a little sourly. "Uzumaki Naruto is dead."

Sasuke exploded angrily. "You are Uzumaki Naruto! Stop denying it!" His hands curled into tight fists. The whisker-marked blonde merely smirked at him.

"I. am. not. Uzumaki. Naruto," she enunciated clearly, as if she was talking to a child. Her eyes narrowed and her face darkened. "I should know; I was there when he died."

At that, Sasuke's chakra spiked, and in an instant, he had raised his hand. From his palm a blade of pure Raiton chakra had shot out and was hovering dangerously near the blonde Akatsuki member's throat. Killing intent leaked from the Godaime, who had a furious aura and expression.

"You were there and you did nothing to stop him from being killed?" Tsunade growled dangerously. She did nothing to stop Sasuke.

The Akatsuki member didn't seem intimidated at all. She merely chuckled darkly. "Couldn't have helped him, as much as I wanted to. My hands were tied," she explained nonchalantly, her dull blue eyes observing the Godaime and Sasuke intently. Suddenly, her eyes widened as they focused on the brunet.

"That kanji… you're wearing the kanji for fire – you're the Hokage Candidate!" she exclaimed. It sounded like her throat had gone dry.

Sasuke glanced at his right arm; there was a red armband there about a shuriken in breadth having a white square with the kanji for fire in it in red. It symbolized that he was technically the Rokudaime, and was currently being trained and groomed to take over when the Godaime stepped down. Sasuke growled mentally; the armband, the position of Rokudaime was nothing but coals of fire on his head. It should have been the dobe's job – _he_ had wanted it, not Sasuke. Sasuke felt like he had stolen the dobe's dream from him. Each day on the job; every minute wearing the hated armband was a reminder of how he had stolen the dobe's dream. Nevermind that he had practically been forced, on the pain of a future worse than death, to step up as Rokudaime. The Council had thought he would grow to love the village as he took on responsibility as the next Head of the village, but so far Sasuke never felt anything akin to the slightest affection for the place.

"It figures… they'd want _Uchiha Sasuke_ as their Hokage. The yarou who betrayed the village, and they still want him. Let's all forget about the poor jinchuuriki who kept the Kyuubi at bay for fifteen years, let's just ignore the fact that he died holding on to the demon so it wouldn't escape, let's just not care that he suffered hell for trying to stop the Akatsuki from getting their dirty hands on the Kitsune," the blonde woman muttered bitterly.

Sasuke felt that the words were like kunai being driven deep into his beating heart.

Beside him, Tsunade took a shuddering breath, trying to compose herself. It was a shame, really, the way just one person could send the current Hokage and Hokage-to-be into such a worked-up state. Only that one person was capable of it – Uzumaki Naruto. The Godaime leaned back in her chair and Sasuke observed a flicker of emotion play on the younger blonde's face. It was obvious the Akatsuki woman didn't even realize Sasuke's Raiton blade had dispelled when she's said her little piece. When Tsunade started speaking again, however, the other woman's face hardened into a mocking grin and blank eyes again.

"You say you were there when Naruto died," Tsunade said. Sasuke could tell she was making an effort to stay calm, although it wasn't perceptible to most. The unknown blonde woman seemed to have noticed it, though, since her mocking grin became wider than before. "Tell us how he died. Explain the circumstances."

The Akatsuki woman exhaled noisily and cocked her head to one side – a gesture that forcibly reminded Sasuke of Naruto. _How dare this woman deny that she's Naruto? What's going on?_

The Naruto-look-alike leaned back and closed her eyes, her face stony.

"It happened about three months after he left this village. He had been living in the forests, avoiding patrols and retrieval teams the Hokage had sent. He ended up getting caught by the leader of Akatsuki himself after a fierce struggle. He was brought to their hideout, where the remaining members of the Akatsuki tried to extract the bijuu from his seal. They tried for almost seven days because of their reduction in numbers and the strength of Ot- of the Yondaime's seal, as well as the jinchuuriki's will power in holding the Kyuubi back. It as seven days of pure pain and hell for him, and in the end he couldn't stand it. The seal cracked and he died a painful death due to an overload of chakra in his system. The Akatsuki didn't manage to extract the bijuu." She recited the story in a monotone, and opened her blank blue eyes when done.

Tsunade's eyes were glimmering with unshed tears, and a bead escaped to trail down her cheek. Sasuke's usually expressionless face showed pain, regret and guilt. The Akatsuki woman shifted in her seat.

"You keep saying 'they'. You weren't involved?" Sasuke questioned. His voice was a little thick from the emotion he was repressing. The woman nodded, a faintly cheerful expression on her face.

"Yeah, I'm new. I was recruited after Uzumaki died. But I'm not involved in bijuu extraction, though."

Tsunade glared at her. "What is your name? why is it that we have never heard of you?"

The other blonde shook her head to move a blonde lock of hair out of her eye. As the strands of hair hanging in front of her face moved, Sasuke caught sight of the scratched hitai-ate on her forehead. His heart sank – Naruto would never wear a scratched hitai-ate, much less scratch his. but something about that hitai-ate was off… before Sasuke could observe it more, the blonde hair settled over the hitai-ate again, partially obscuring it. His attention turned to the woman's answer.

"My name?" the blonde asked in a mockingly thoughtful tone and pretended to think for a second. "My name's not important. Maybe I'll tell you later if I feel like it. As to why you've never heard of me, well… let's just say I'm one of Akatsuki's well-guarded secrets. Up till today, only the main group knew about me."

Sasuke folded his arms and glared at the prisoner. "What kind of answer is that?" he growled. The blonde woman grinned cheekily at him. "The only kind you'll be getting from me."

The brunet's hand shot up and the chakra blade shot out. His eyebrow raised a fraction: the blade couldn't seem to touch the blonde, who was smirking smugly at him. He tried to extend the blade – it should have pierced the blonde's cheek by now, since it as within range, but try as he might, he couldn't touch her. His Sharingan activated in an instant, and with it he saw a layer of chakra like a protective shield enveloping the blonde, and his Raiton blade couldn't pierce the shield. Raiton's only weakness was Fuuton – could it be that the blonde woman's chakra was Fuuton chakra? He glared and dispelled his blade.

"So," the Akatsuki member began conversationally, "what will you be doing with me now?"

Tsunade folded her arms under her ample chest and narrowed her eyes at the woman, who was unfazed. "Since you've been less than forthcoming with your answers, standard procedure dictates we wake Morino Ibiki up and hand you over to him, and believe me, he's cranky when you wake him up in the middle of the night. Ah, I see you've heard of him," Tsunade remarked, noting how the prisoner had turned a shade paler at the mention of the man's name. "You could do yourself a favour and answer our questions if you dislike meeting Ibiki that much." The Godaime leaned forward, rested her elbows on the cracked desk and laced her fingers together. "What were you after in my library?"

The tied-up blonde stared back at Tsunade for a long moment, her eyes carefully blank. Then she sighed loudly and flopped back in her seat and shifted to indicate how uncomfortable she was with the wires that were actually cutting into her skin, causing it to bleed.

"The same scroll Uzumaki stole eight years ago," she exhaled. Her expression was non-committal, but Sasuke could see that her eyes were watching Tsunade for a reaction.

Tsunade stiffened, though her expression remained unruffled. To Sasuke's surprise, three of the four ANBU surrounding the Akatsuki woman stiffened as well. The younger blonde chuckled and glanced up at the masked faces of her guards.

"Heheh. I see you remember what happened eight years ago, eh? Or maybe you're more worried about what's in the scroll."

Sasuke turned to Tsunade and raised an eyebrow faintly. _Why was it such a big deal? _However, it was the other blonde who answered with a smirk. "The first jutsu on that scroll is what helped Uzumaki pass his Academy exams – kage bunshin no jutsu. But I guess that's not of interest to Leader-sama. What he's really interested in, though," she paused for effect, smirking, "is the detailed description of Ot- of the Yondaime's Shiki Fuujin, Shishou Fuuin and Hakke no Fuuin Shiki."

Tsunade sucked in air harshly. Sasuke considered the information – sealing techniques? Could it be –

"Those were the seals Minato used to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto with," the Godaime breathed, her face worried.

_Ah, so that's why there's such a fuss over the scroll. You'd think they'd guard such an important scroll more tightly,_ Sasuke thought, and mentally snorted in disdain. _Minato…? I've never heard that name before…_

"Well, Leader-sama said he's interested in that, and I bet the gang and I could learn a few other things from the scroll, too," the blonde grinned. Then, before the Konoha nins could say anything, the woman stiffened and her eyes became distant and unfocused for a few seconds. The Leaf nin watched her cautiously.

"Ah, well," the woman snapped out of her daze. "It seems Pain-in-the-ass wants me back. Gotta go, boys."

In a mere second, she had released a shocking wave of chakra that caused the wires binding her to snap, and in another two seconds she had flashed through the seals for Kanashibari no jutsu, causing everyone in the room to freeze. Sasuke cursed himself for being caught off-guard like that; it was embarrassing. He quickly worked on calling up enough chakra to nullify the body bind jutsu, but in the meantime the blonde Akatsuki member had formed the seals for shunshin no jutsu. She paused on the last handseal, then turned around and eyed the frozen occupants of the room.

"I'm probably gonna regret this," she muttered, her gaze roving, then pausing on Tsunade before landing on Sasuke's eyes. She gave a cheeky grin and continued in a louder voice, "but seeing as how nice it was to catch up with you guys and all, I'll tell you something." The woman's eyes grew hard, and her grin widened. "My name is Namikaze Naruto."

With that, her fingers instantly contorted into the last handseal and she disappeared with a 'poof'.

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**Glossary-of-sorts**

onna: woman.

Raiton: lightning element, or lightning release. One of the elements Sasuke is able to use is lightning, which is why he can use the jutsu (technique) chidori (thousand birds).

Godaime: fifth generation, as in Fifth Hokage. Rokudaime is sixth, and Yondaime is fourth.

Kanji: Kanji is one group of characters of the Japanese writing. It's actually Chinese characters that have been adopted, and are pronounced in the Japanese way.

Yarou: bastard

Jinchuuriki: power of human sacrifices. A term used to call those with demons sealed into them.

Kyuubi: kyuu means nine, bi means tails. Hence, ninetails, as in the Ninetailed Demon Fox.

Kitsune: fox, as in the Ninetailed Demon Fox.

Bijuu: tailed beasts; referring to the tailed demons.

Fuuton: wind element, or wind release. A type of chakra element, which is said to be stronger than lightning element chakra but weak to fire element chakra.

Shiki Fuujin, Shishou Fuuin and Hakke no Fuuin Shiki: the seals the Yondaime Hokage used to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto with. For details, check out wikipedia. Its page on fuuinjutsu (sealing techniques) is pretty good. In fact, check out the various jutsu I might mention in the fic at wikipedia, too. Jutsu have the words 'no jutsu' after them, so you'll know those are jutsu. Makes for a shorter glossary-of-sorts :-D in other words, this author is toodarnlazy to explain everything.

Pain-in-the-ass: the Akatsuki leader's name has been revealed to be Pain. In the first manga chapter I read where his name was revealed, it was spelled Pein, but then it has been changed to Pain, so I'm sticking with Pain.

**The Author has More to Say: **Yup, it's another FemNaru fic from yours truly! Blame it on the plot bunnies. Isn't it wonderful to have these intangible entities to push the blame onto? XD

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

**The Author Says:** I have been DEPRIVED!!! No internet for almost a month! It was driving me crazy, and I'm sure I had withdrawal symptoms and everything!

On a more serious note, I really apologize for the huge delay in updating. I know I warned that updates would be erratic and sporadic, but I do try my best to update whenever I can. What happened was this: my family moved to a new place. Our phone line got transferred pretty fast, but the lousy ISP took their own sweet time to get our internet fixed up. Those weeks without internet were torture, I tell you!!! The time hasn't exactly been wasted, though, coz I did do a bit of writing in my free time (beams proudly). Thank you to all who reviewed! I hope your interest hasn't died down :-p and in apology I've uploaded two chapters! Hope you enjoy :-)

U/L: 24th January 2008

* * *

**In That Moment**

by _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 3**

* * *

A second after the 'poof' was heard, the Konoha nin found themselves able to move. Sasuke was feeling angry and embarrassed at being caught in such a simple jutsu, and for letting such an important prisoner escape literally under his nose. He was pretty sure the ANBU were berating themselves, too. 

Namikaze? That name held not significance to Sasuke, but before anyone could say anything, Tsunade crumpled back into her chair and released a shuddering sob.

"N-namika-kaze…" she said shakily. Sasuke noted one of the ANBU (Sasuke thought he might be the oldest of the squad) hadn't relaxed, and in fact had tensed even more after what Tsunade said.

The Godaime took a few deep breaths and looked up. Sasuke wasn't surprised to see tear stains on her face.

"ANBU 9, you are not to speak of anything you have seen or heard in this room tonight, you understand? Not to your fellow shinobi, fellow ANBU, not to your superiors, and definitely not to the Council."

"Hai!" the squad bowed smartly. Tsunade nodded.

"Good. Now, your mission is to retrieve the Toad Sannin Jiraiya for me. Start with the women's bathhouses, then the sake houses. Track him down and get him here at all costs. You have your orders."

"Hokage-sama!" the squad saluted smartly, bowed again and disappeared together in a puff of smoke. When the last of the smoke dissipated, Tsunade leaned back, pulled open a drawer, extracting a sake bottle and two saucers from it. She poured the sake into the saucers, downed one, paused, then took the bottle straight to her lips, bypassing the saucer.

Sasuke's face went back to its default setting of expressionless, although on the inside he frowned disgustedly at the Godaime. He had found out that she was a drinker and a gambler, but these habits became worse after the baka left the village. Speaking of which…

"Who is this Namikaze?" he asked bluntly. Tsunade ignored him in favour of another gulp of sake and burped gently. Sasuke could see the Godaime's cheeks were starting to turn pink. He waited.

"Namikaze Minato was Konoha's best ever ninja – he was the Yondaime Hokage." Tsunade paused. Sasuke was beginning to get a nagging feeling at the back of his mind – like an important piece of the puzzle had been revealed. He waited some more as Tsunade took another gulp and closed her eyes.

"Twenty years ago the strongest of youkai attacked Konoha, and as Hokage, Minato had to deal with it. As you know, Minato used the Shiki Fuujin, Shishou Fuuin and Hakke no Fuuin Shiki to seal it into a newborn baby whose umbilical cord had just been cut."

"I know that. That baby was Naruto," Sasuke cut in impatiently. Tsunade opened her eyes to glare at him and take another drink, then closed her eyes again.

"Impatient brat. Let me finish," she snapped. "What most people – in fact, the whole of Konoha, except for a select few – didn't know was that Namikaze Minato actually sealed the Kyuubi into the so-" Tsunade corrected herself, "the child he had with his wife Uzumaki Kushina."

Sasuke's eyes widened a little. That loud, idiotic usuratonkachi was the son of the revered Yondaime Hokage? He heard Tsunade chuckle darkly at his expression.

"That's right, Uchiha Sasuke," she said mockingly. "The dead last of the Academy, the hyperactive number one most unpredictable ninja, your teammate and rival, the pariah of Konoha, is in fact the son of Konoha's hero."

Sasuke's face returned to being expressionless, although many questions and emotions were churning in his eyes.

"Why wasn't Konoha informed? People would have looked at him differently! He wouldn't have been despised!" Sasuke said angrily. Absently, he knew a major portion of the anger was directed at himself for his treatment of his former teammate, who was obviously the one who kept Konoha safe, by keeping the Kyuubi at bay. But even as his words left his mouth he knew the answer to his question, and Tsunade drunkenly confirmed it.

"Security reasons, of course. Twofold. One, as the son of Konoha's Yellow Flash, he'd be targeted by his father's enemies. The whole of Iwagakure would be after him. And Iwa wouldn't be alone. To add to that, Kushina herself was quite the kunoichi, though she was relatively unknown in Konoha. Since her enemies weren't as formidable as Minato's, Naruto was given her name." Tsunade took a breath. "Two, that night Naruto was turned into a jinchuuriki. That made him extra valuable, and should anyone 'acquire' him, they would definitely use him as their weapon, just like in Gaara's case. So there was no sense in giving Minato's enemies extra incentive in coming after Naruto." Tsunade massaged her temples. "Do you really think they'd hate Naruto any less if they knew who his father was?"

Sasuke digested these words as he went to sit in one of the chairs in front of the Hokage's desk. The very chair the Akatsuki woman had occupied, he absently noted. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a small patch of blood on the wooden floor – probably from the woman when the chakra-enhanced wires had cut through her ankles.

"But what does all this have to do with that woman claiming to be Namikaze Naruto? I mean, Uzumaki Naruto had always been a boy! And… Namikaze Naruto and Uzumaki Naruto…" he trailed off, his eyes on the blood.

"They're probably one and the same," Tsunade said heavily, finishing the sentence for him. "I don't know what happened. I had always known Naruto to be male, and this development certainly contradicts my previous knowledge."

"What about the possibility of an imposter?" Sasuke asked, though he knew the answer to that question, too. He was trying hard to wrap his mid around what had just happened. Tsunade seemed to know this, and answered wearily.

"The possibility is near nil. I did not detect any possession jutsu – those always leave a chakra trail, unless it's one as advanced as Orochimaru's. And I can't help think that no one could fake that hair, that face, those scars, those eyes…" Tsunade said quietly, and Sasuke agreed. "And I'm sure you did not detect any genjutsu."

"Hn." Sasuke made an affirmative noise. " That means…" he swallowed. "Naruto's… female?"

"It would seem so, wouldn't it? Everyone, including Jiraiya and I, and from his duty logs, even Sarutobi-sensei, knew of Naruto as a male. Therefore I would conclude that the whole gender-bender idea was Minato's, that brat. He must have done it in conjunction with the youkai sealing."

"If Namikaze Naruto is Uzumaki Naruto, then she must have been describing her own 'death' experience," Sasuke noted quietly. "I suppose by 'death' she meant that she turned back from a boy to a girl."

Tsunade squeezed her eyes shut, probably remembering what Naruto had had to go through. "I noticed that she said she was recruited after 'Uzumaki' died, yet she mentioned she was there during the failed Kyuubi extraction. I should have called her on it. Would have, if she hadn't disappeared so quickly."

Sasuke had made the same observation. "Hn."

A few minutes passed in silence, then –

"What do you want, Tsunade-hime? What's so important that you had an ANBU – ANBU! – squad wake me up from my precious sleep? How am I supposed to be refreshed enough to write tomorrow if I don't have enough sleep?" complained Jiraiya as he walked in. His face was grumpy and he was stomping in rather childishly. He marched u to the cracked Hokage's desk and stared Tsunade in the eyes, or rather, eyelids, until she opened her bloodshot eyes.

"Uchiha, give the report," the Godaime murmured tiredly.

Sasuke, too tired to care about protocol, gave his report from his hunched over position in his seat. Jiraiya listened without interrupting the Rokudaime's concise recap of the events.

The Toad Sannin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So Naruto's now a girl, eh? Damn, I should have dispelled the henge myself when we were training!" he said with a perverted grin.

Tsunade growled and moved to punch the perverted old man, but before she could even pull back her hand, Jiraiya was already painfully lodged in the wall to her right. She blinked at the brunet in front of her, who had a fierce scowl on his face. His Sharingan were blazing and his hands were bunched up into fists.

"Don't," he growled in a dangerously low tone, "don't you ever think of touching her, you dirty old man."

Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke noted Tsunade's raised eyebrow. He felt a little startled at his reflex reaction himself, but he wouldn't apologize for it. _That dirty old pervert._

It was no secret that both the Sannin were not fond of the Uchiha, to put it lightly. Tsunade tolerated him a little more than Jiraiya did, because she was in constant contact with him, and appreciated his effectiveness and efficiency at work. She was handing over more and more work to him, as her desire to be Hokage, fuelled by Naruto's presence, had all but died when the younger blonde disappeared. She didn't like the idea of the Uchiha as Hokage – she had practically promised the position to the blonde idiot – but she couldn't bring herself to care anymore, Sasuke knew. She did care enough to underhandedly keep her adopted brother – or rather, sister – out of the missing-nin lists and bingo book, but when it came to the affairs of the village, she couldn't care less.

Many times she'd grumble and berate Naruto in front of everyone – how dare he disappear without telling anyone! That idiot! Leaving her with a big headache because of this stupid stunt! What the heck had he been thinking? Did he even think in the first place? She'd give him a good whack when she got her hands on him!

Then she'd shove her work aside and disappear for hours on end, and Sasuke would give her some time, then dispatch Shizune to pull her out of the bars and sake houses and help her home, drunk off her ass and weeping about the loss of her adopted brother. Why did he leave? Didn't he trust them? Didn't he know they cared? She cared? Why did he leave?

Jiraiya detached himself from the wall – a little painfully, Sasuke noted with malicious satisfaction. The Toad Sannin turned to the Rokudaime.

"It's nice to see you care, Uchiha. Especially after you all but kicked Naruto out of the village yourself," Jiraiya sneered, his voice practically dripping with sarcasm and contempt.

Sasuke tried hard not to flinch, but he did. He hated those words, mainly because they were nothing but the truth.

_Five years ago_

Sasuke opened his eyes blearily and struggled to focus. There was a gasp and immediate movement to his left.

"Obaachan! Sakura-chan! Sasuke's awake!" an annoying voice yelled loudly. The yellow and orange blur at the side of his field of vision started getting larger before he got a blob of yellow and tan and bright, intense blue in his face.

"Sasuke!" the blob said loudly, shaking his shoulder a little. Sasuke tried to clear his throat but lacked the energy, so a low, growling noise was heard instead. The blob went "Oh!" and removed itself from his face before something smooth and cool was pressed to his lips, and he felt his lips wet.

Water! Sasuke hurriedly gulped in as much as he could, feeling the cool water sooth his parched throat and ease his pounding head. Loud, clipped footsteps sounded.

"Sasuke-kun!" This time a pink blob attached itself to his right. "You're alright!"

He glared weakly at the pink blob, then turned his head to the front to look at the biggest blob. Tsunade chased the other two out of the room and interrogated him lightly, to which he relied grudgingly. Then she warned him about some things and left. After she left, the orange blob came bouncing back in.

"I dragged you back, Sasuke! Just as I said I would!" Naruto said loudly. Sasuke glared at the ninja and squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again, he found he could see better. His eyes zoomed in his former teammate's face, and he glared, his eyes practically blazing with hatred.

"You'll stay in Konoha now, won't you? You've already killed Orochimaru, so there's no need for you to stay out there! We'll help you kill Itachi – Sakura and Sai and me!"

"I'm not staying," Sasuke rasped contemptuously. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise.

"But why? I told you, we'll all help you with Itachi! And you can't leave! Tsunade-obaachan said you're being detained!"

Sasuke's fists trembled in anger. "Shut up, dobe," he growled dangerously. "The business between me and Itachi has nothing to do with you, or Sakura, or the rest of Konoha. As soon as I can I'm leaving, and none of you can stop me."

Naruto got angry. "I just dragged you back, teme! Don't think I'll let you go so easily!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and sneered. "What makes you think you can stop me? Your Kyuubi?"

Naruto flinched and scowled. "Kyuubi or not, I won't let you leave again, Sasuke. So many of us risked so much to bring you back; we're, no, I'm not letting you go again."

Sasuke snorted. "We'll see."

Naruto was in his hospital room almost every waking hour, it seemed, and it was driving Sasuke crazy.

"Shut up!" he finally shouted when he couldn't stand it anymore. He turned from where he was trying to ignite the ceiling with his glare and started to try to ignite his surprised visitor. "Shut up, dobe. Every time you come in here you talk about how I cannot leave, and I'm sick of it. Just shut up! Accept the fact that I don't need your help, that I don't care about you or Konoha, and get out of my face, my room and my life." His voice was cold and full of suppressed fury.

Naruto kept quiet for a few moments, looking down. Blond hair covered blue eyes, and when he spoke, his voice was unusually subdued, with an odd tone to it.

"What will it take for you to stay?" he asked quietly.

Sasuke, frustrated and pissed off beyond belief, turned directly to the blond, and hissed, "You leaving."

To the brunet's surprise, Naruto left silently. He stopped at the door, turned back to look at Sasuke without saying a word, then left.

For a few days after that Sasuke didn't see the loud blond, though each time the Hokage came in to check on him, she looked more and more distracted. She and Sakura were the only ones to visit him. He could sense a constant pair of presences just outside the door – guards, he guessed. Most likely ANBU. It was disconcerting for Sasuke to find that after his noisy perpetual visitor, the silence was lonely. He stared at the ceiling, feeling angry and confused. It was almost as if he missed the idiot.

But it couldn't be. Granted, he had thought of the idiot once or twice during the past nearly three years, but he certainly didn't miss him. It couldn't be possible that he'd miss him after a few days of quiet after suffering through that annoying, endless chatter, right?

He growled low in his throat and clenched his fists, feeling frustrated at his slow healing rate. Even with the power of the white snake, it seemed that whatever Naruto did to him was healing slower than usual. Suddenly, the door burst open, and a harried and worried-looking Hokage swept in.

"Has he been here, Uchiha?" she demanded.

Sasuke regarded her with a blank face.

"Answer me!" she growled, grabbing the collar of his hospital-issue yukata roughly.

"Who?"

"Naruto! Has he been. here. or. not?" she shouted, shaking her fist, and consequently his clothes. Her eyes were blazing into his, and her killing intent flooded the room.

Sasuke managed a weak sneer. "No. I haven't seen the idiot in a few days."

Tsunade's anger cooled down, only to be replaced by intense worry. She mumbled, almost to herself, "Where could that idiot be? I've not sent him on any missions; no one has seen him, not even the Ichiraku cook…"

The memory of what he had told Naruto in his anger came back to him, and a bit of uncharacteristic panic started to creep in. Unfortunately for him, Tsunade noticed the faint change in his expression and rounded on him, grabbing his collar again.

"What did you say to him, Uchiha?" she shouted, shaking him. Sasuke managed an indifferent façade, although he was beginning to worry the slightest. Had the dobe really left the village? With Akatsuki and Itachi after him…

"I told him I'd stay if he left," he answered tonelessly. The Hokage's eyes widened, as did her mouth. Then her eyes narrowed, and she punched Sasuke right in the jaw. He had seen it coming, but didn't avoid, or even flinch.

"If Naruto is… if anything happens to him…" she was so shaking with rage that she couldn't even finish her sentences, but the murderous look in her eyes clearly told Sasuke what she meant. With a frustrated growl, she hurried out of the room.

Days passed without good news. The Hokage had sent out as many teams as Konoha could afford, but none managed to track him down. The Kazekage himself, Sasuke was told, had to be physically prevented from going out of his village to search for the blonde once Suna received the news. When Sasuke learned that Gaara was the Kazekage, he wondered how the Suna nin actually managed to keep their leader in the village without ending up in sand coffins. Most of all, though, he wondered how that idiot of a ninja managed to escape the detection of two shinobi villages.

Sakura had given him a punch across the jaw as well when she came back from the first fruitless search mission. She had shouted at him, almost breaking down in tears. Sasuke ignored her, but inside he couldn't quash the guilt that was building up slowly. Their peer shinobi all regarded him with cold eyes and blatant hatred, even, not that he cared about that though. The other shinobi, and the general residents of Konoha, however, seemed to rejoice at his return, thinking that he was going to settle down and rebuild the Uchiha clan.

Days turned into months and years without news of the blond idiot. Sasuke rose in rank pretty quickly through the influence of the Council, much to the dissatisfaction of the Rookie 9 (well, 7, since Naruto was gone and Sasuke didn't consider himself a part of them), his replacement, and the older team that had taken the first chuunin exams with them. Then came his appointment as Rokudaime Hokage, which they (and Sasuke himself) had protested fervently against. But certain threats prevailed, and Sasuke very reluctantly took up the post.

About six months after Naruto's disappearance, Sakura began to warm up to him again, though she wasn't as friendly as before. "Because Naruto would hate it if we treated you the same way he'd been treated all his life," she had said. Sasuke didn't care; he kept to himself as much as possible and looked out for any news or clues of the blond whenever he was out of the village on missions, as he suspected Naruto's other friends did, though no one, not even Jiraiya, whose toads refused to reveal anything, ever saw any trace of Naruto.

Not until five years later, when Sasuke caught that blonde-haired blue-eyed Akatsuki member in the Hokage's library.

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**The Author has More to Say:** Phew! Longest chapter yet. But the other chapters won't be this long, though. This particular chapter is extra long coz I wrote the flashback part on the PC, coz for some reason I can't remember I couldn't write it on paper and skipped over it to continue with chapter 4. I'm sorry if the flashback's kinda choppy, coz I was distracted while writing. _Cough_readingotherfics_cough_. 

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

**The Author Says:** Again, I apologize for the huge delay in updating (bows humbly). Also, this is the second chapter I uploaded today, so go back and read chapter 3 if you haven't already done so :-)

U/L: 24th January 2008

* * *

**In That Moment**

by _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 4**

* * *

"… and that's the situation," Tsunade concluded with a sigh. She'd just spent about twenty minutes briefing Hatake Kakashi and Umino Iruka on what had happened two nights ago. "It goes without saying that this is extremely confidential, and no word of it should go back to the Council." 

Sasuke, standing at his usual position to Tsunade's right, observed the two men. Iruka looked like he was having a hard time understanding and accepting all this. His eyes shone with confusion, incredulity, and most of all, hope. Iruka had been quite badly affected when Naruto was discovered to be missing, and it was no surprise that he was overjoyed to know that his practically adopted son – or should it be daughter, now – was alive and kicking.

Sasuke discreetly turned his eye to the silver-haired jounin, whom he knew Tsunade had actually intended on appointing as Rokudaime. Kakashi's face (or rather, the visible patch of his face) was placid, but Sasuke knew the jounin well enough to see that he as tense, alert, and his eye was flickering with a flurry of emotions.

Tsunade waved a hand at them. "All right, I know you need some time to digest this," she said, and added under her breath, "I needed a lot of sake myself," then continued in a normal tone. "Dismis-"

The office door opened with a bang then shut immediately with another bang, cutting off Tsunade's voice. The three male nin immediately sprung into defensive positions with kunai pulled out. Sasuke's Sharingan activated, and right away he detected the perpetrator of the door bangs. He relaxed, but only fractionally, and turned to give a slight nod to the Hokage, who instantly caught his drift.

Before she could say anything, however, a puff of smoke appeared in the room, and an ANBU squad taichou along with it. He dropped to one knee.

"Hokage-sama!" the ANBU said quickly. "Reported sighting of an Akatsuki member headed this way! ANBU 3 is in active pursuit, and ANBU 9 and 11 are being mobilized as we speak."

Sasuke resisted the urge to snort.

"I see. Pursue the man and capture him unharmed. Unharmed, you hear? Bring him to me the moment he is apprehended," Tsunade ordered.

Sasuke noticed Kakashi's raised eyebrow and Iruka's mouth opening to talk. "Dismissed," he said in a clipped tone. The ANBU rose to his feet, bowed quickly and disappeared.

"Hokage-sama!" Iruka started, and his mouth hung open as he tried to think of what to say.

Tsunade rubbed her temples.

"Perhaps you would like to come down, Naruto?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly, but the absence of his usual fixture (i.e. Icha Icha Paradise) was an indicator of how seriously he was taking the situation.

With a cheerful laugh, a figure materialized on the ceiling above the door and dropped to its feet on the floor. It raised its blonde head and observed the nins in the room with cerulean blue eyes.

"My genjutsu still sucks," Naruto commented with a slight sheepish grin.

"Aa." Kakashi agreed, still tense. Iruka, on the other hand, stared open-mouthed at Naruto's feminine face. Her figure was still well-hidden under the Akatsuki cloak.

"N-naruto?" Iruka asked hesitantly, as if he was not sure if he could believe his eyes. The cerulean blue eyes turned to rest on the brown-haired man.

"Hey Iruka-sensei," Naruto greeted with a small wave of the sleeve of her cloak, since it was large enough to cover her hands.

"Naruto!" Iruka's eyes were shining with tears. Before Kakashi could stop him, he rushed forward and hugged Naruto tightly, exclaiming, "Idiot! Everyone was so worried about you!"

To everyone's intense shock, before Iruka could get even less than half the sentence out, Naruto had screamed, utter fear and terror on her face, and pushed wildly out of Iruka's embrace. It was obvious her movements were panicked.

Iruka dropped his arms in surprise as Naruto stumbled backwards, her arms flailing in front of her as if to ward off further touch. In a flash, she had attached herself to the ceiling and was crouching upside down, trembling violently with her arms around herself.

Tsunade had half-risen from her seat at Naruto's scream, and Kakashi had taken a step forward; probably his teacher's instincts kicking in. Sasuke himself had also taken a step forward, eyes a little wide at the trembling figure. At a nod from Tsunade, he shunshin-ed to just outside the office, and sure enough, a small group of people came running.

"Rokudaime-sama!"

"Uchiha-sama! What happened?"

"Is everything alright?"

Sasuke turned to them with an expressionless face. "Tsunade-sama just received a few I.O.U.s," he informed them in a monotone. Most of the faces became relieved, with a few chuckles and eye-rolls. However, one brave soul furrowed its brows.

"But it sounded like someone who was terrified…"

Sasuke took note of the person's face, mildly approving the person's boldness in questioning his superior's obviously suspect answer. Sasuke saved the mental image for later, and decided to get rid of the group. With one faintly narrowed eye, he asked in an icy tone, "Are you questioning me?"

The group, scared and flustered, quickly retreated, dragging the shinobi who had opened his mouth earlier, and now seemed to have more questions. Sasuke smirked inwardly as he dispassionately watched them walk (run) away, then quickly shunshin-ed back to his spot next to the Hokage's chair.

Naruto was still crouched upside down on the ceiling, although her trembling had lessened. Iruka and Tsunade were standing directly under her, apparently trying to get her to come down.

"Naruto? I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" Iruka asked worriedly. The blonde head shook to indicate 'no', and her hair fell out of the cloak. It was long (Sasuke guessed it would reach the woman's midback) and was tied with a red band halfway down.

"Come down, Naruto," Tsunade commanded gently. "We won't hurt you."

Naruto managed a weak snort, and Tsunade glared at her.

"I mean it, brat. Now get down."

Blue eyes opened to peer at Tsunade and Iruka cautiously. Then she crept backward a little before falling to the floor to land on her feet. Immediately she moved a little further away form them and wrapped her arms around herself. Sasuke saw Tsunade stiffen.

"You're haphephobic, aren't you?" Tsunade asked slowly. It was the younger blonde's turn to stiffen.

"What?" asked Iruka.

It was Kakashi who answered. "Haphephobia, or haptephobia. Fear of being touched."

Naruto nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's what Itachi-niisan said. But I'm much better, really!"

Sasuke froze where he was. _Itachi?_ _Itachi-_niisan?

Naruto was still rambling.

"A few years ago I couldn't have anyone even near me. Now I can be near people, and I can stand body contact during fights, although not too much, but I can't have to much contact, like pats or hugs and stuff, although I've been forcing myself to start touching other people and let them touching me without me screaming-" she stopped abruptly when she realized Sasuke was in the room, and a look of shame and anger crossed her previously blank eyes before they turned away from his eyes.

"Naruto," Iruka's voice was sad. "I'm really sorry about earlier."

The woman gave him a faintly cheerful grin, although her face was still tense. "Don't apologize, Iruka-sensei. You didn't know."

"What caused your haphephobia, Naruto?" Tsunade probed gently. The woman addressed stiffened.

"The attempted extraction," she answered shortly, not meeting anyone's eyes. Iruka paled a little. Sasuke himself felt a slight mental shudder, recalling what little the woman had told them of the incident during their previous encounter.

"Look, I don't want your pity," Naruto ground out after a few moments. Her voice was cold and uncaring – the polar opposite of the Naruto Sasuke knew. "I didn't come here to squeeze a few tears out of you."

"Then why are you here?" the Godaime questioned warily. Naruto or not, the woman was still Akatsuki.

The Akatsuki member huffed and flicked her wrist as she raised her hand. Two photographs appeared between her fingers and the large sleeve of her cloak slid down her hand. Sasuke noted she was wearing black gloves with silver-hued metal guard plates on the back of her hand, and black fishnet extended from inside the sleeve and ended in an orange hem that was equidistant from elbow to wrist.

The brunet saw that one picture was that of a smiling blonde man, and the other of a red-haired woman who was grinning widely at the camera. He blinked once. The blonde man resembled Naruto in terms of their colouring – blond hair and blue eyes, and the redhead's features and cheerful expression could definitely be seen in Naruto's own features.

Kakashi stiffened, as did the Godaime.

"Minato-sensei," the jounin murmured. Tsunade exhaled loudly.

"Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina," she said, mainly for Iruka's and Sasuke's benefit. Sasuke had already recognized the blonde man as the Yondaime from the picture on the wall.

"Oh," was all Iruka said. Naruto flicked her wrist again. The photos disappeared and she lowered her hand back to her side.

"They're mine by right," she said, her eyes daring them to deny it.

Tsunade grimaced. "No, gaki, they're not. Technically, you forfeited all your rights when you became a missing-nin."

Naruto's eyes flashed angrily. "I don't care. They're all I have. Or would you rather I ransack the library and take my otousan's journals and jutsu scrolls?" she asked, baring her teeth at them in a feral manner. Then she grinned. "Besides, I know for a fact that I'm not listed in the bingo book."

Tsunade folded her arms and glared at her, but Sasuke knew that the older blonde wouldn't deny Naruto the photos.

"Come back to Konoha and your parents' effects will be yours," Sasuke spoke up suddenly. His usual cool, uncaring voice hid the plea behind the statement.

The Akatsuki woman turned to stare at him incredulously for a long moment, and Sasuke stared right back with his expressionless face, a little mesmerized by the shade of blue of her eyes. He found that he rather missed seeing it.

Then she laughed. Loudly, uproariously until she was clutching her middle and wiping tears from her eyes.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Her body shook, this time from laughter, not fear. Sasuke glared.

"Glad to know you're entertained," he said sarcastically, coldly.

"But it's funny! Don't you see?" she asked, pushing back her hair out of her eyes to look at the three older nin, who looked blankly back at her. She smacked her own forehead. "Man! And you say _I'm_ slow! Don't you see? It's a role-reversal. Five years ago it was me begging Sasuke to come back and stay in Konoha, and now he's the one doing it! Don't you find it funny?"

She received deadpan looks, and sighed, shaking her head.

"Come back to Konoha, dobe," Sasuke said again.

Naruto looked at him, her eyes bright but guarded. She chuckled amusedly, then stared at the ceiling while stroking her chin – making a show of being in deep thought, saying, "Hmm, now what was it you said the numerous times I begged you to come back? Oh, that's right!" She abandoned the pretense to stare coldly at Sasuke, and declared flatly, "No. Weren't you the one who said you'd stay if I left, all those years ago? And now you're asking me to stay?"

Sasuke winced almost imperceptibly, but the Akatsuki woman saw it and sneered at him.

"Naruto!" Iruka's voice was sad and pleading. The woman's features softened as she turned to her former father-figure.

"I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei," she said in a gentler tone, with what seemed to be genuine regret. "But I can't come back right now."

_Can't? Right now?_ Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto, who wasn't looking at him.

"Naruto! At least consider carefully what Sasuke is saying," Kakashi advised, his eye serious.

"As Godaime and Rokudaime we have the authority to pardon you!" Tsunade pleaded. Her eyes were suspiciously bright.

Naruto's features soured for a moment at the mention of 'Rokudaime', and Sasuke flinched internally. The younger blonde shook her head regretfully.

"Sorry, no can do." She ran a hand through her bangs. "I'm really sorry, Tsunade-obaachan, Kakashi-sensei." She stepped slowly towards Iruka and reached out a trembling hand and grasped Iruka's arm very slowly, hesitantly, and quickly let go. "I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei. Just forget about me, minna-san."

With that, she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Naruto!" Iruka's and Tsunade's voices were anguished. Kakashi slumped dejectedly.

Sasuke cursed.

* * *

**Glossary-of-sorts**

- gaki: brat

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	5. Chapter 5

**The Author Says:** I didn't realize I ended both my active fics with a cliffhanger of sorts. Heheh. Also, I'm sorry if I hadn't made it clear: the Kyuubi is still in Naruto. The Akatsuki tried but failed to extract the bijuu. Tsunade infers that a seal the Yondaime Hokage must have placed on Naruto to disguise her gender must have dissolved during the failed extraction and turned her back into a female, hence why Naruto says _Uzumaki_ Naruto died during the extraction, and now _Namikaze_ Naruto is alive and kicking.

U/L: 2nd February 2008

* * *

**In That Moment**

by _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 5**

* * *

Sasuke slipped his hands into his pockets and started towards his apartment, keeping his head down and ignoring the people around him. There weren't many people about since it was rather late in the night.

The brunet found his thoughts straying towards his ex-teammate and current Akatsuki-member. He realized that in the approximately three weeks since he had last seen her, he had found himself thinking of her during his freer moments – wondering how she was, what she had gone through, what it was like in the Akatsuki. Thinking about how different she now was, personality-wise. Cold and uncaring – so unlike the cheerful, happy-go-lucky idiot his teammate had been. Of course, the fact that _he_ was now a _she_, and had apparently been a she all her life, took a lot to get used to. There was also that 'Itachi-niisan' thing. Sasuke scowled darkly.

Reaching the door to his apartment, he undid his traps and security seals and opened the door. As soon as he put one foot in, he sensed it – another presence in his apartment. Red bled into black as Sharingan activated, and he noiselessly closed the door and unsheathed his Kusanagi, and made his way towards the source of the chakra signature.

The chakra signature seemed to emanate from his bathroom, and was very faint. Sasuke suspected it was the signature of an experienced shinobi who was too used to hiding their chakra that they did it subconsciously all the time, though it seemed this person wasn't bothered to completely hide it – meaning that the shinobi wasn't hiding. Still, Sasuke had to raise an eyebrow as he padded quickly to his bathroom. What on earth would the unknown shinobi want in his _bathroom_?

As he stood outside the door, he could hear the person inside moving about and muttering to themselves every now and then. Without warning, he threw open the door and held his chokuto in an attacking position.

A loud curse sounded and his fractionally-widened eyes took in the rather shapely figure of a blonde woman wearing an orange tank top over a mesh shirt that had orange hems at mid-neck and halfway down to the wrist. She also had on the usual shinobi pants in black that were tucked into ninja boots that almost reached her knees. A black cloak with red cloud designs was tossed haphazardly on the floor.

Blue eyes looked up at Sasuke.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto said carelessly, but it was obvious she was tense and ready to disappear at any moment. He noted with a faint sense of alarm and concern that she was cut up and bleeding.

"What are you doing here?" he asked icily, not letting go of the Kusanagi. He also realized, with a faint, uncharacteristic blush, that he kept surreptitiously eyeing her figure, as if to make sure that his eyes were not deceiving him.

"Like what you see?" the woman drawled dryly, and apparently did not notice how Sasuke's blush intensified a fraction as she bent down to pick up her Akatsuki cloak, hissing in pain as she did so. She straightened, clutching the cloak in one hand, and turned to face him.

"Me, Itachi-niisan and Jaws were on a mission nearby. I slipped up, got myself cut up. Two guys escaped. Jaws lectured me for an hour, Itachi-niisan for ten minutes, then they left to report to Leader-sama. Since Konoha was nearby, I decided to drop in to say hi, and steal some bandages and ointment and stuff."

She stared warily at him, then, in a flash, started to form the handseals for shunshin no jutsu, but before she could finish, Sasuke had the tip of his Kusanagi resting on her chest (_breast!_ Inner Sasuke noted with a blush) where her heart was, ready to be pushed in. He wasn't about to be caught off-guard this time.

Two blue eyes narrowed at him icily. "What do you want now, teme?" her voice was frosty.

Sasuke considered her for a moment. With just a simple moulding of chakra, he could kill her with a chidori nagashi, or at least knock her unconscious and deliver her to Morino Ibiki. But without even stopping to consider the consequences (not that he could be bothered about them), he knew he could not kill her, or even turn her in.

"Continue what you were doing," he finally said, and lowered his chokuto, although he didn't re-sheath it. Naruto looked at him in surprise.

"Huh?"

Sasuke glanced at her with a trace of annoyance – a reflex action more than anything. "I said, continue what you were doing."

Naruto raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth to say something, but apparently thought the better of it and slowly backed to where the bathroom supply shelf was. She bit back a wince as she rifled through it, keeping watch on Sasuke out of the corner of her eye.

After a few moments of watching her fumble and mess up his things, he strode over with an annoyed huff. Naruto's eyes widened in alarm, and she took a large step back and slipped into a defensive stance. A part of Sasuke twinged with sadness to see the formerly fearless blonde so fearful.

"Relax, baka. I'm just getting the things you need. Typical moron; can't even steal properly. How'd you ever make Akatsuki is beyond me," he said, his tone a little condescending. He grabbed the bandages and ointment that had been at the very back of the shelf, turned to the blonde and tossed them to her. Just as he turned, he caught sight of an emotion on her face and in her eyes before it disappeared and her eyes became blank again.

_Was it… was she hurt by what I said?_

Before Sasuke could dwell further on it, Naruto had dropped her cloak to catch the flying objects.

"I'm a bakemono," she said easily and shrugged, but turned her blue gaze away from Sasuke. "That's all the qualification I need."

_Foot in mouth._ Sasuke's innards twisted uncomfortably.

"Hn," he grunted, and backed away to stand in front of the door. After a few seconds of strained silence, Naruto turned to pointedly look at him.

"Well, aren't you getting out? I need some privacy, teme," she snapped.

Sasuke's faced remained passive. "No. you might try to escape."

Naruto groaned exasperatedly. "Like I couldn't escape if you're here. Look. Do you really expect me to undress in front of you?"

A faint pink tinged Sasuke's cheeks, but his face told Naruto the answer: he was obviously not budging. The woman narrowed her eyes and glared at him.

"Pervert!" she shouted. "Arrgh! Fine! But if I catch you peeking I'll feed you to Kisame's sharks!" Hissing in pain, she turned her back to him, sat on the covered toilet seat, and slowly started tugging her orange tank top over her head, wincing and hissing as the dried blood pulled painfully where it had stuck to the mesh shirt and skin.

Sasuke watched, mesmerized by the impromptu, involuntary strip show. He swallowed heavily as she started pulling the mesh shirt over her head. She had to go slowly because of the pain, and to Sasuke, it seemed almost seductive. With the mesh out of the way, some blood-stained wrappings that were around her upper chest loosened and fell off. Sasuke swallowed again, realizing that those had been her chest wrappings that she wore in lieu of a bra. Then he frowned and resisted a shiver as he saw what had happened to the right side of her back.

Her chest wrappings had fallen off because they had been partially shredded; now Sasuke could see that the skin and some flesh of the right side of her back had been badly shredded, too. The skin and flesh were quite mangled, and it was not a sight for weak stomachs. Naruto tore off her gloves and threw them down to join her clothes, then reached a hand around to palpate the injury, hissing in pain as she did so. Some parts of the wound had started to bleed again, and, feeling the slickness of blood on her fingers, she withdrew them and cursed under her breath.

"It doesn't slice; it shaves," she muttered mockingly, as if imitating someone, then grumbled, "Stupid sword. Stupid Jaws. Why can't he use a clean-edged, flat blade like everyone else? Stupid shaving sharkskin! Wait until I get my hands on you, Kisame-yarou, then I'll shave your stupid fins and make shark fin soup! Then you'll know what it's like to be shaved, you stupid shark-man…"

Naruto had been cleaning her other smaller, less urgent wounds while she unloaded her grief. Done with that, she massaged her forehead with one hand. "How the heck am I supposed to wrap myself? Stupid shark, stupid huge-ass sword…"

"I'll wrap your back for you," Sasuke spoke up suddenly, surprising both himself and Naruto, who jumped and almost turned around.

"Dammit, Sasuke! I almost forgot you're still around!" she said, then quickly shook her head. "No! I can do this on my own. Don't come near me!"

Naruto's haphephobia had probably kicked in, and Sasuke felt uncharacteristically disappointed and sad at Naruto's refusal of his help. "Hn. Just hurry up and don't bleed all over my floor, usuratonkachi," he said instead.

Naruto's answer was to growl back a little. Sasuke could see wisps of red chakra moving on her wound even without his Sharingan. The wound was healing, but it would be at least half a day or more before it was fully healed, and putting ointment on it and covering it up was probably the best thing that could be done right now.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

While Sasuke had been staring at the wound and red chakra, Naruto had created a clone. Just before the smoke completely disappeared, Sasuke noticed the kage bunshin was as undressed as the original, and nearly had a nosebleed.

He was surprised at his reaction. He'd seen women, some prettier than the one currently in front of him, in various states of undress. Some had been injured teammates; others were females who tried to throw themselves at him. none had turned him on before this, though.

To his mild disappointment (he surprised himself by feeling disappointed, and Inner Sasuke blushed when he realized what the disappointment meant) the kage bunshin quickly picked up the discarded Akatsuki cloak and threw it on before Sasuke could see anything. Then the kage bunshin started to attend to the unusual wound on Naruto's back, washing away the fresh and dried blood, spreading the ointment, and finally putting a layer of gauze before wrapping the wound by binding the bandage around her torso. It helped Naruto put on the bloodied and somewhat shredded mesh shirt and tank top before dispelling. The cloak it had been wearing collapsed to the floor as the material body disintegrated.

Naruto bent painfully to pick up the cloak, then straightened and turned to Sasuke. She stared at him for a few seconds, her eyes guarded and her expression not giving away anything.

Sasuke stared back, taking in Naruto's feminine features.

"Thanks, Sasuke," the woman said finally.

"Hn."

Naruto started to walk towards the door. Sasuke could see that she was biting her cheek – probably due to the pain caused by the chafing of her clothes on the newly-bandaged wound. He followed her out the bathroom door towards the living room, and realized she was heading for the front door. A feeling of panic flashed through him, and he quickly placed himself between Naruto and the front door.

As he stared at Naruto's raised eyebrows he wondered at the feeling of panic a few seconds ago. He knew that if he were to let the blonde go now, he'd probably never see her again, and the guilt that had plagued him all these five years would never be assuaged. But he was surprised that he had panicked about it. Cold, uncaring Sasuke panicked that the dobe would leave again?

"What do you want now, teme?" Naruto asked warily. She had started to tense, and he could sense that she was gathering her chakra. He gave himself a mental shake.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked in the most uncaring voice he could muster. Naruto scowled lightly at him.

"Err… out?" she said dryly, rolling her eyes. She moved to step forward. "Thanks for your bandages and stuff; really appreciate it. Gotta get going now – you know, missing nin stuff to do."

Sasuke stared back expressionlessly, not moving an inch. Naruto retracted her foot and her scowl deepened.

"Hey, I'm trying to get out of your house and life here! A little co-operation, please?"

Sasuke stared a second longer. "Stay."

The blonde's eyes widened incredulously, then she sneered. "Nani? You were more than glad to get rid of me five years ago, and now you ask me to stay?"

Sasuke tried his best to keep any concern for Naruto out of his voice. "Stay. At least the night. You need to rest your back, and think about coming back to Konoha."

Naruto was taken aback for a second, a look of surprise o her face. Then she sneered again. "Is that concern I detect in your tone, Uchiha?" she said sarcastically. "Don't start pretending to care, or people might think you've actually grown a heart." She took a step forward, but was forced to take another backward when Sasuke didn't move. She raised an eyebrow when he didn't have a comeback for her jibe.

"Stay," Sasuke said a third time, tone betraying nothing. "Then at least you can fight me to get out, if you really want to." He raised a mental eyebrow when he saw Naruto flinch a little at his words, but otherwise said nothing.

They ended up standing there, staring down each other for almost fifteen minutes before Naruto gave in and huffed. She scowled at Sasuke, who was sighing with relief. Mentally, of course.

"Fine! You win this time. Now what?" she snapped irritably.

Sasuke pointed behind her. "My room."

Naruto's blue eyes widened. "Nani?" she screeched, backing away with her arms flailing, before she winced because of the pain the movement caused and dropped her arms.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at her, although he had a faint tint of pink on his face he hoped she couldn't see in the dark. He hadn't quite realized the implications of the two words his mouth had shot off before his brain could stop it.

"Baka. You need a larger space than the couch to lie on, since your back is injured. You can lie on the bed."

Naruto glared at him. "With you in it? You pervert-yarou! Just because I'm now female doesn't mean I'm too weak to kick your ass you-"

Sasuke glared back and cut her off. "Like I would want to be in the same bed as you, usuratonkachi. I'll be on the floor."

Naruto's glare remained, but she seemed to be considering. "Fine." She drew back to allow Sasuke to lead the way. He stepped towards his bedroom, and his stomach twisted uncomfortably to see her shrink back when he passed by.

"Don't even think of disappearing, baka," he warned, and opened his bedroom door. He stood aside and gestured for her to get in, which she did slowly while watching him warily. As soon as she was in, he locked the door and sealed the room, and turned to see her seated on his bed, watching him bemusedly.

His heart skipped a beat, then decided to pump faster than usual when he saw her seated on his bed. Naruto on his bed. He gave himself a mental slap, then turned to his cupboard and pulled out a shirt. He tossed it at her.

"Huh?"

Sasuke made himself as comfortable as possible sitting with his back to the door so he could face her. "Your clothes are ripped, and so is your cloak."

Naruto shook her head, then lowered herself onto her stomach carefully. "It's alright. I've slept in worse." She dropped his shirt onto the floor by the bed.

Sasuke watched as she struggled to keep awake, but her eyelids drooped, and soon she was fast asleep. He found he liked watching her face in sleep. It was more peaceful, but once in a while her brows would furrow and her mouth would crease into a frown. His fingers itched to smooth the creases on her forehead, to rake through her bangs, and to whack her a good one on the head for leaving the village; for playing the hypocrite, for making him bear all the guilt for her disappearance for five years, for dragging him back then disappearing on him. He was disconcerted to find he also wanted to give her a tight hug; to make her haphephobia go away.

Sasuke awoke the next morning to find the blonde missing. The rumpled bed and a kunai stuck in his wall, bearing a scrap of paper saying 'thank you' was all the evidence she had even been there. He cursed.

* * *

**Glossary-of-sorts**

- chidori nagashi: thousand birds (chidori) current.

- bakemono: monster

- kage bunshin no jutsu: shadow clone technique

- nani: what

**The Author has More to Say:** nihihihi… XD

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	6. Chapter 6

**The Author Says:** Bring out the oranges and peanuts! It's Chinese New Year! Keong Hee Huat Chai! That's how we say it in my dialect. Some of you may have heard of the more popular version: Gong Xi Fa Chai. Well, whatever the dialect, I want to wish all my readers a Happy Chinese New Year! Sorry, no angpow from me, I'm not married XD

Anyways, it's Chinese New Year in two days' time, and I won't be around for about a week, meaning I won't have proper Internet access, which is why I'm updating now. Isn't it nice of me? Hahaha :-D So, here's this week's update, and I won't be updating till next week. Have a prosperous Year of the Rat :-)

U/L: 5th February 2008

* * *

**In That Moment**

by _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 6**

* * *

"Do you think he – she – will ever come back?" Sakura's voice wasn't too hopeful. She was careful to keep her voice down. 

Sasuke swallowed the bit of ramen in his mouth and shrugged. Beside him, Sakura gripped her chopsticks so hard they cracked. She grinned sheepishly and broke apart a new pair.

"When he –"

"She," corrected Sasuke.

"She comes back, I'm gonna pound him –"

"Her."

"– Her into a bloody pulp! With all his – her – speeches about brining you back and protecting her precious people – she just ups and leaves?!" Sakura pounded the countertop angrily, then deflated.

"It's kinda hard to get used to the idea that Naruto's a girl," she mused. "And I can't believe I had to be on a mission the both times she appeared in Konoha!" The medic nin sighed. "But why did she leave in the first place? You telling Naruto to leave isn't a good enough excuse – the Naruto we know is way more stubborn than that."

Sasuke shrugged. Naruto had never mentioned it – not the time he caught her in the library, not the time she burst into the Hokage's office, and not two months ago when he found her in his bathroom. Images; memories of a topless Naruto in his bathroom and Naruto sleeping on his bed flitted through his mind, and he quickly raised his bowl to drain the soup, hoping Sakura didn't see the pink tinge of his cheeks. It was shameful, the way he always blushed when it came to matters concerning Naruto. Was he turning into a pervert? He found himself thinking of her often, reliving those few recent memories of her. He also reminisced and brooded about the time they were Team 7.

The flap behind them rustled.

"Sakura? Are you done?"

The pink haired medic nin looked up to see the white eyes and dark, dark brown hair. She smiled fondly at her fiancé. "Almost, Neji. Give me a second."

Neji sat regally on the seat next to Sakura and nodded to Sasuke. "Uchiha." He never called Sasuke by his given name, never called him by his position's title outside of duty.

"Hyuuga." Sasuke nodded back.

Since Sakura had started dating Hyuuga almost three years back, she had more or less forced them to tolerate each other. At first, the Hyuuga would start a fight, verbal or physical, with Sasuke almost every time they met. It was obvious he blamed Sasuke for Naruto's disappearance. Sakura's fists and pleas (her fists worked best, in Sasuke's opinion) had caused the animosity to die down to the minimal levels.

"Done," Sakura announced, and with a light pat to her ex-teammate's back, left the ramen stand with her fiancé. Sasuke was relieved that she had gotten over her crush.

He slipped some money onto the counter, put his hands into his pocket and strode quietly out of the stand. It was evening, and the sun was in the process of setting. Most people he came across greeted him almost reverently, but he mostly ignored them.

He opened his apartment door, walked in and tensed. There was that faint presence again. This time he easily recognized it as Naruto's, but he didn't let his guard down. He calmly closed and locked his door, and made his way to the kitchen, from which he could hear sound of cupboards and drawers being opened and closed.

Sasuke rolled his eyes – the baka had never been good at stealth, and evidently would never be good at it.

_That's not true,_ a voice a logic spoke up in his head_. If her stealth sucked, there's no way she could have sneaked into the village_ and _into your house without being detected._

Funny how it was so easy to think of Naruto as a female now.

"Sasuke!" came a loud, annoying whine from the kitchen. "Why isn't there any food in your house?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes again and strode into the kitchen to find the blonde woman rummaging through his cupboards with a petulant look that he could see once she turned to him and crossed her arms over her chest.

He nodded at her. "I see you got yourself a new cloak," he commented causally, but he was still on guard. She was Akatsuki, after all.

She uncrossed her arms and picked at the cuffs of her long, wide cloak sleeves. "This? Yeah. Pain whipped it up for me from his secret stash or something. After he chewed me up and stared me down about my 'blunder', as he put it." She shifted somewhat uncomfortably and stared at him, and he stared back at those blank, once-lively blue eyes. "So. Anything to eat around here? I'm starved."

Sasuke nearly chuckled at the childish way Naruto had asked the question. He waved her to one of the dining chairs that were pushed neatly under the dining table – exactly the way they had been since they had first been put into his kitchen. They stayed that way mainly because he only used one of them, and very sparingly at that. Naruto looked at him cautiously, obviously thinking it over before sitting down. She leaned the chair onto its back legs so that the back of the chair was touching the counter behind it, then looked up at him expectantly.

He quirked up the corner of his mouth at her exasperatedly. "Don't even think of attacking me," he said, and turned his back to her to open the fridge.

She snorted. "Why, don't think you can win?" she asked, an obvious challenging grin in her voice.

"Nope, he answered, "I know you'd want me head-on if we ever had to fight. You were never a sneak-attack person." He closed the fridge door, turned around and held out a palm.

"Time changes people, Sasuke," she said in a guarded voice as she rocked on the two legs on the chair, then turned to look at the object in his hand. She scrunched up her face. "Yuck! I don't understand how you could just eat those" she whined, but took the tomato anyway, staring at it with comical disgust.

Sasuke scowled at her. "I happen to like them. Eat or starve, I don't care."

"Aww, how could you say you don't care? That hurt, bastard," Naruto fake-sobbed and clutched her cloak over her heart.

The brunet merely rolled his eyes, though inwardly he was glad to see her behaving more naturally. _I do care,_ he admitted hesitantly to himself as he took a seat next to her.

Naruto pouted at the tomato in her hand, screwed up her face and took a bite, making a big production of showing her distaste for the fruit. "I don't like it raw," she informed him with a screwed-up face. "In soups or cooked as an ingredient in dishes – then it's alright, but eating it raw sucks."

Sasuke shot her a dry look, then tensed as she suddenly leaned over, and, to his surprise, sniffed at him. her blue eyes lit up – such a vast change from their former dead look.

"Ramen!" she cried. "I smell ramen on you – Ichiraku Ramen!"

She leaned back into her chair, crossed her arms petulantly and pouted. Sasuke beat himself up mentally as he wondered where the sudden urge to kiss those red, pouting lips came from.

"Yeah," he finally answered after Inner Sasuke was a bloody heap on his mental floor.

She ran a hand through her long bangs that had been tucked behind her ears. They were longer than Sasuke remembered – in two months or so they would be long enough to tie back. The movement of her hand (which showed Sasuke the purple-black nail polish on her fingernails that seemed to be requisite of an Akatsuki member) loosened the hair so that it somewhat hid the top half of her face and the scratched hitai-ate. Inner Sasuke received another beating when he suggested that Sasuke tuck the yellow hair behind Naruto's ears so that he could see her eyes better.

"Man, I miss Ichiraku Ramen!" Naruto said wistfully. "Maybe one day when Neji and Hinata are both out on missions and you're stuck in the Tower I'll henge and go for a bowl or two. Or three."

"You would," Sasuke commented wryly, then changed the topic, since for some reason the air had become rather sorrowful. "Your haphephobia seems to be better."

Naruto blinked at him and ran her hand through her long fringe again. "Yeah, it's really strange. I can't touch people yet, but it's no longer terrifying to be so near someone anymore. It seemed to get better so much more quickly after I came back for the first time." She shifted so that the large collar of her cloak hid her lower face from view. "What, aren't you gonna insult me, make fun of my weakness?"

Sasuke remained silent, pondering that question. When they were genin he'd have taunted the blonde for having a weakness; he'd have rubbed it in her face. But now… he didn't quite know what he felt. If he wasn't so sure he was Uchiha Sasuke, emotionless Avenger, he'd think that he felt… sad about her phobia, that he was commiserating with her about her weakness, instead of crowing over it.

"When are you coming back?" he asked instead.

"When I fin—" she started to say, then cut herself off. Sasuke looked at her sharply, questioningly. She avoided his eyes and picked at her nails. "I mean, why should I come back? The village is better off without the jinchuuriki everyone loves to hate, isn't it? I can tell they're happy that they don't have to see my pretty face walking down the streets," she said sarcastically. " 'sides, you're the Rokudaime now, and you can't leave the village, which means that I won't be coming back."

"What are you doing here, then?" it came out a little colder than he intended.

Naruto hesitated and averted her eyes a little more, her fingers playing with the half-eaten tomato. Then she looked at him and grinned. "I was in the neighbourhood; just thought I'd drop by and visit my favourite, most hated rival, steal his food – that sort of thing," she replied. "But you suck, dude. How can you not have food in your house?"

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair. "This house is merely a place for me to spend the nights."

"Bastard," she scolded. "It's such a nice place. Be a little more appreciative. I'd love to live here – it's so much better compared to my place when I was a Konoha nin." She sighed. "You spoiled brat."

"Am not," Sasuke replied automatically. Naruto's eyes narrowed mischievously and she grinned.

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too!"

"Am not."

"Are too! Are too!"

"Am not."

"Are too! Are too! Are too!"

Am not."

"Are – aww. You're no fun," she said, pouting playfully at the brunet, who was smiling faintly. An unreadable expression crossed her face, and Sasuke wondered what she was thinking.

"You haven't given me a proper answer," Sasuke told her. Her face became blank instantly, and she sat quietly for a second before standing up and placing the bitten tomato on the table.

"You don't believe me, huh. I can tell when I'm not wanted. See you around, bastard."

Sasuke shot out a hand, but she'd disappeared before he could latch onto her. He cursed out loud, glaring angrily at the tomato and wishing his legs were long enough to kick himself in the ass.

* * *

**The Author has More to Say:** Don't you sometimes just wish your legs were long enough to kick yourself in the ass? Heheh. This chapter is a little shorter than normal, but this is all I wanted to have in this chapter :-) Again, Happy Chinese New Year! 

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	7. Chapter 7

**The Author Says:** Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! I honestly didn't expect to top 100 reviews so soon. You guys are great! Since I have so many reviews (especially when added to those of my other fic), I won't be replying to every single review, just those with questions or comments I can't resist answering. It doesn't mean I don't appreciate your review if I don't reply it, because I do!

On a more serious note. This lazy ass has gotten herself a temp job. I know, I know: what in the world were you thinking, TDL?? Sigh. If only I could live off reviews. Well. This job means that my writing time would be considerably lessened, and would in turn mean that updates might come slower than usual. Sorry, can't be helped. I haven't had the time to troll the hospital's ICU wards to look for a rich, dying husband who'd will me his fortune when he kicks the bucket, so I unfortunately have to work for my money. Sigh.

U/L: 14th February 2008. That's right, Happy Valentine's Day! Much love to all my readers and reviewers :-)

* * *

**In That Moment**

by _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 7**

* * *

Sasuke stared at the steaming cup of ramen on the table in front of him, a pair of chopsticks in his hands. 

It had become a routine. Whenever he came home relatively early, he'd cook himself a cup of instant ramen from the stash he now had hidden away in one of his kitchen cupboards.

He remembered the looks of incredulity shot at him by some of his peer shinobi, and the knowing look Kakashi had in his eye when they caught him buying a whole carton of instant ramen cups. He still remembered the embarrassment and frustration he'd successfully tried not to show. He thought he had picked a day and time when the shinobi wouldn't be visiting the grocery store, but it seems Fate (and Neji, who was there, along with Sakura, Ino, Hinata and Kiba) was mocking him. He recalled the Hyuuga's contemptuously raised eyebrow and Sakura's and Hinata's incredulous looks. Sakura had questioned him, but as usual Sasuke didn't deign to answer.

He sighed softly as he closed his eyes, murmured an 'Itadakimasu', and lifted the noodles to his mouth slowly. He couldn't deny it to himself. He had bought and kept buying the instant ramen in hopes that Naruto would pop by again – another two months had passed since she had taken a bite of his tomato and left – and open the cupboard and shout in a happy tone –

"Ramen!"

Sasuke's eyes shot open – he knew he had a vivid imagination but that was just too real to have come from his mind.

Beside him, in the seat she had previously occupied, was the woman he had been thinking of. His ramen cup was already in her hands, and she was inhaling the steam with a ridiculously happy look on her face. Sasuke's pulse sped up a little, and a little fond feeling invaded his heart as he watched her smile, upturned curves for eyes and whisker marks that curved to follow her bunched-up cheeks.

"Here," he said, carefully jabbing the chopsticks that held his uneaten noodles towards her. Blue eyes opened to stare at him.

He jabbed the chopsticks in her direction again when she didn't move. "Use these to eat, dobe."

Expression fled her face and her eyes became cold and blank. "I have happyphobia, bastard," she replied flatly. "How do you expect me to take 'em from you, especially if they have noodles on them?"

"Haphephobia, baka," Sasuke corrected. He glanced at the noodles on the chopsticks, glanced at Naruto, and glanced back to the noodles before looking to Naruto again. His pulse sped up a little.

"Open you mouth, then," he said. Despite trying to keep his voice steady, it came out soft. Gentle, even.

The blonde Akatsuki member stared at him incredulously. Sasuke decided he'd had enough with the incredulous looks.

"Hello? Happyphobia?" Naruto said exasperatedly.

"Haphephobia," Sasuke corrected again. His eyes and expression softened. "Trust me," he said softly, looking straight at her eyes.

She started and stared back, before chuckling cynically. "Trust _you_?" she sneered.

"That hurt," Sasuke blurted out softly and honestly before he could stop himself. Naruto's sneer didn't leave her face; instead, her expression became more sarcastic. "Just open your mouth and trust me, Naruto."

It was the first time in years that he had willingly, casually said her name out loud. The only other time he had actually said her name was when she had first re-appeared. He never spoke her name to anyone, because he never broached the topic of her with anyone else. They spoke of her to him, but never him to them.

A flicker of surprise crossed Naruto's face, and the sarcasm slowly drained from her face to leave it expressionless. She stared into his eyes before slowly opening her mouth.

Sasuke's throat went dry for some reason he couldn't fathom, and seemingly for that same reason his heart started pounding nervously as he lifted the chopsticks and carefully fed the noodles to her. He watched, entranced, as she sucked the long noodles into her mouth, licked her lips and chewed slowly.

You could have cut the silence with a knife, but Sasuke knew it wasn't the usual kind of tension he had with Naruto: the 'I hate you, my rival' kind of tension. He stared at those beautiful blue eyes that were holding something back, and watched them stare back into his own eyes –

"The ramen's cold, teme." Naruto's complaining voice broke the moment and she looked away, down to the ramen cup. "The cup's cold, too!"

Sasuke almost scowled at her.

"Make your own, then," he told her curtly, and snatched back his stolen cup of (cold) instant noodles. She pouted at him as he ate the noodles, and he noticed she had trimmed her blonde fringe so that it just covered her eyes and touched her cheeks. He pointed to the cupboard that held his ramen stash with a jerk of his chopsticks, and smiled softly at the way she broke into a huge smile and scrambled noisily to throw open the cupboard and squeal happily at the sight of the stacks of ramen cups.

"Ramen!" She was scooping out an armful of cups. "Shrimp! Chicken! Beef! Seafood! Pork! MISO!"

The blonde rushed around the kitchen, grabbing a kettle, filling it with water, setting it on the stove and opening the foil of half the cups she had pulled out with the usual Naruto-ish energy that used to annoy Sasuke years ago, but he now found himself missing. A small smile curved the corners of his lips, and disappeared as soon as she turned around. He caught sight of her ecstatic grin as she bent down to pour hot water into the ramen cups, and it was hidden by the large, high collar of her cloak as she straightened.

She waited impatiently for the dehydrated noodles to cook, and was fidgeting and tapping her feet and fingers, and humming snatches of tuneless melodies. Sasuke hid a fond smile at her behaviour.

The three-minute wait was soon up, and she happily ripped the foil off the first cup of ramen within her reach and inhaled deeply.

"Aaahh…" she moaned happily. The sound shot straight to Sasuke's groin and sent a pleasant shiver up his back.

She quickly unbuttoned her cloak enough for her to eat and grabbed the pair of chopsticks she had found in one of the drawers. "Itadakimasu!" she said quickly, and Sasuke almost didn't see the movement of her mouth before she was slurping up the steaming noodles with a blissful expression that made him smile. Good thing her eyes were closed into upturned curves, or she might have seen his smile.

Within minutes she was done and leaned back, grinning happily with her eyes closed and a hand rubbing her stomach.

"That hit the spot," she mumbled in a satisfied tone. Her voice and expression made a flush of pleasure rise in Sasuke. He liked seeing her happy, he realized. And he liked it even more when _he_ was the one who made her happy.

"You're welcome to the ramen anytime," he told her, hoping to see her smile. His wish was granted.

"Really?" she almost squealed, her smile nearly splitting her face in half. Sasuke was happy, more than happy to see her entire face since her cloak had been unbuttoned. "I lov- I mean, you rock, Sasuke!"

Was it possible to feel both elated and disappointed at the same time? Sasuke's heart beat faster when he heard the word that almost came out of Naruto's mouth. Did she really mean what she had nearly said? He felt disappointed that she hadn't said it.

_Would you say it to her?_ The thought spontaneously popped into his head and made him pink slightly and scowl. Unfortunately, Naruto's happy look slid off her face at his scowl, and she stood up.

"Most people actually smile when they get complimented, bastard," she told him in a somewhat snippy tone. "If you dislike it so much even when I _compliment_ you, then I'll be going." She grinned an evil grin. "But you'd better guard your ramen properly; you'd never know when I'll just pop by and steal a few."

She started the handseals for shunshin no jutsu. "Bye, bast—"

Before she could finish the last handseal, Sasuke's eyes had widened in alarm and he had shot out a hand to latch onto her wrist. "Don't go, Naruto," He couldn't quite keep the pleading tone out of is voice.

"Let go of me, bastard," was the reply. She couldn't keep the shakiness out of her voice, and he realized she was trembling. He quickly released her wrist and shot her an apologetic look. The moment he released her, she quickly backpedaled to lean against the counter behind her, knocking down the chair in her haste. She had her arms wrapped around herself and was trembling. Her eyes were hidden by her bangs.

Sasuke had never felt so guilty since the day she left the village.

"Bastard," he heard her whisper. The tremor hadn't quite faded from her voice.

"I… …sorry," he finally mumbled, lowering his head a little. He saw her head rise in surprise. A long moment of silence passed before she spoke. The tremor had faded but her voice was still low.

"Just… don't do that again. Not yet."

_Not yet?_ Not a little bit of relief flooded Sasuke at those words, and an unreasonable (that's what he told himself) thought popped into his head that made his face pink again.

"I meant what I said," he told her, to rid himself of the thought and the blush. "You're welcome to the ramen anytime. I don't particularly like it, anyway."

Through her bangs, he saw a shaped yellow eyebrow rise. Her arms were still wrapped around herself, but not as tightly as before. "You _don't particularly like_ ramen, yet you have enough to feed a genin cell for a week in your cupboards," she said in an incredulous, 'I-don't-quite-get-it' tone.

Sasuke didn't answer. He couldn't quite tell her that he had bought the stuff in hopes that he could see her smile when she stopped by. "Stay the night," he said instead. The other blonde eyebrow rose to join its mate near her hairline.

"Uchiha Sasuke, Rokudaime Hokage, are you asking a missing nin and enemy of Konoha to spend the night in _your house_, instead of apprehending her and handing her over to Morino Ibiki?" she asked a little mockingly.

"Would you rather spend the night with Ibiki, then?" he shot back, his face expressionless. Then his eyes softened. "I know you would have done the same for me, if you were in my place," he continued quietly.

That silenced her, and she looked at him with a blank face for a few long seconds before folding her arms and looking away. "…Okay."

Sasuke's heart jumped in his chest and he nearly sighed aloud with relief. Hiding a smile that threatened to show, he switched off the kitchen light and led the way to his bedroom. He had to resist the urge to turn around every few steps to make sure she was still following him. Her tread was silent, and he had to strain to hear the swishing of her cloak.

He motioned to the bed as he entered the room and closed the door behind her. He didn't switch on the lights, but quickly sealed the room with a string of handseals.

Naruto, who had sat on the bed, raised an eyebrow as he slid down to sit against the door. "Still afraid I'll disappear on you?" she asked, grinning with a little contempt. Sasuke snorted.

"As if. I'm doing it to keep people _out_," he replied. "Particularly nosy, overzealous ANBU and a certain silver-haired perverted former teacher of ours who likes to pop by just to get me up."

Naruto's eyes widened and she shot off the bed quickly. "Eew! You and Kakashi-sensei? I didn't know you swung that way! And he's too old for you!"

Sasuke's eyes widened to match Naruto's for a second before his features expressed the same disgust on her face. "_Usuratonkachi!_ Not like that, baka! He just likes to annoy me! I'm straight! I like yo— girls!"

The blonde woman was laughing uproariously at her little joke and Sasuke's reaction, and it took her a minute to calm herself down to a few chuckles. She went back to the bed and lay on her stomach, pillowing her head on one arm so she could look at him. Her other hand dangled down, fingertips tracing lazy circles on the wooden floor. She raised an eyebrow at him. "You like girls?" she asked in a pointedly questioning tone. "I would've thought you're asexual, you frigid bastard."

Sasuke's heart was thumping a mile a minute at what he had accidentally let slip out. _Thank Kami she didn't notice it!_

"Just because I don't go around ogling girls doesn't mean I'm gay, baka," he said, once he got his heart, voice, and the blush that threatened to show under control.

Her eyes started to droop, Sasuke noticed. She yawned before answering him. "Good. Coz I'd kick your ass good if you spied on the women's onsen like Ero-Sennin." She brought the trailing hand up to rub her eyes, then let it fall down bonelessly. "Kakashi-sensei likes to get you up, huh?" she giggled lightly. "He used to pop by too, years ago. He didn't wake me up, but he'd bring those disgusting things and ask me to eat them." Her nose wrinkled at the memory.

"Disgusting things?" Sasuke enquired, crossing his arms comfortably across his chest.

"Yeah. Vegetables and fruits." Yawn. "Yucks."

A corner of the brunet's mouth lifted in Sasuke's version of an exasperated smile. "No wonder you're stupid and small – you don't eat your vegetables."

"Am not stupid!" came the sleepy protest, and the dangling arm shook a fist at him. Sasuke's smile widened a little, and his onyx eyes traced her relaxed features.

"It's good that Kakashi-sensei comes by once in a while," Naruto murmured. Sasuke's face darkened.

"He does it to annoy me. A passive-aggressive gesture," he replied.

The blonde head shook lazily in disagreement, and a yawn was heard before the reply. "He does it because he cares. That's his way."

Sasuke watched the blue eyes close. "No, he does it because he blames me for you leaving. Everyone does." _Including myself._

"Baka-Sasuke," Naruto reprimanded sleepily. "Kakashi-sensei isn't like that, or he'd hate me for taking away his sensei. He isn't the type to hold grudges. He really cares."

Sasuke snorted, but he didn't dismiss Naruto's words easily.

" 'sides," the blonde continued in the same sleepy tone, "it's not entirely your fault I left."

He felt the weight of the guilt of her leaving ease a little, and he was sure it showed on his face. He wanted Naruto to elaborate, but it was obvious from her tone that that was all she would say.

A comfortable silence filled the room. Naruto's eyes had closed completely, and her upper back was rising and falling in a gentle rhythm. Sasuke was contemplating scooting closer so he could better watch her in the dim moonlight when she spoke.

"You should smile more, Sasuke," she murmured. Sasuke wasn't sure whether she was talking to him or just sleep-talking. She continued. "You look so much like Itachi-niisan, yet you look so different."

Sasuke stiffened and frowned deeply.

"Don't do that, bastard," Naruto scolded sleepily, and cracked an eye open to look at him for a second before closing it again. She exhaled a long breath. "I like looking at you better than Itachi-niisan. Especially when you smile."

When he woke up the next morning, still leaning against the door, she was gone again. But this time, instead of cursing, a slightly goofy smile curved his lips when he remembered what she had said last night.

* * *

**The Author has More to Say:** Spoiler Alert for those who aren't up to date with the manga! We should have guessed that an Uchiha was behind Akatsuki. I mean, who else would come up with such large, high collars on their uniforms? The thought occurred to me as I was typing up this chapter XD 

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	8. Chapter 8

**The Author Says:** Been busy this week. Wanted to update on Thursday, but had a dinner to attend. And on Friday I had to meet someone. So, yeah. And there might be more bad news to come (no, I'm NOT giving up this fic!), but it isn't confirmed yet (the possible bad news, I mean) :-D so here's chapter 8! I think you guys will like this chapter ;-D

Thank you for all the reviews!

U/L: 24th February 2008

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**In That Moment**

by _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 8**

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Naruto gleefully slurped up her ramen. She set down the bowl and burped. "Thanks, Sasuke!"

Sasuke smiled faintly. "Will you be coming by tomorrow?" he asked.

The blonde scrunched up her face, thinking. "Let's see… today's the fifth night I'm here, so… nope. I won't be here tomorrow night – tonight's my last in a while."

Sasuke's spirits dropped at that statement. He had been in unusually good spirits these past few days. It had even shown on his face and in his general manner. The staff at the Hokage Tower had been giving him curious looks when they thought he wasn't looking, and Sakura had asked him point-blank during their ramen lunch yesterday. He had given her one of his looks, and she had dropped the topic.

But now the reason for his… he didn't quite know what to call the emotion he was feeling. He wasn't exactly _happy_, but perhaps it was a faint happiness. Anyways. The reason for his good mood had just told him she wouldn't be dropping by for who-knew-how-long more. She had appeared the previous four nights in succession after almost six weeks of absence, and ate his ramen every night, and spent the night in his bed, too. Unfortunately (in Inner Sasuke's opinion) he wasn't in the same bed at the same time. He was getting an ache in his back and dark circles under his eyes from sitting on the floor at night and watching her sleep until his eyelids drooped on their own accord. But it was worth it, to have her near.

Naruto continued, oblivious to Sasuke's thoughts. "I've got a sort of mission coming up with Itachi-niisan and Kisame in two days' time, so, yeah – tomorrow night's my last for a while. I don't know how long it'll be before I can raid your kitchen cupboards again." She burped and stretched, not noticing Sasuke's eyes narrowing at a certain phrase she'd used, then following her movements and resting on her smiling face. "I don't know how I survived without coming here for ramen at night. Just a few days in a row and I'm so comfortable with it. Definitely gonna miss this during the mission." She smiled wistfully, then turned to look straight at Sasuke, whose heart gave an extra-strong thump. She grinned at him, and his heart skipped a few beats. "I definitely owe you, Sasuke!" she declared.

Sasuke took a moment to ponder. The Naruto he knew years ago would have rather bitten off his own arm before saying something like that. Then a devious idea popped into his head; one that made his heart race just thinking about what would happen if she said yes.

"Yes. You owe me," he told her. He was sure his eyes must have glinted evilly or something, but she was happily rocking on the back two legs of the chair and wasn't really paying attention to him.

"Un," she replied absently, and ran a hand through her hair.

Sasuke smirked. He hadn't smirked in a long time. She was still balancing the chair on two legs and apparently thinking of something. He decided to unveil his evil plan. "Since you owe me, I know of a way you can repay me. Go on a date with me."

"Un, sur--- Nani?!" she had begun to reply automatically when what he was asking sank into her head, and she stared at him in shock before losing balance and crashing to the floor in a loud clatter.

Sasuke couldn't help it. He laughed lightly at the sight of her shocked face goggling at him from the pile of limbs and chair on the floor. He quickly got up, pulled the chair away from her and set it on its feet, smirking. He kept the smirk on his face but his stomach was invaded by nervous butterflies as he slowly reached down, gently grabbed her upper arm and pulled her upright. He could feel she was very tense under his grasp, and was trembling lightly. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her lips were set in a thin, straight line, and her face had a look of intense concentration, like she was trying to figure out the solution to a difficult and unpleasant problem.

The brunet reluctantly let go of her arm. "Are you alright?" he asked. It came out softer than he had intended, but he didn't care.

She took a deep breath before replying. "I'll be fine," she answered, as softly as he had spoken. Silence fell upon the house, broken only by the sound of Naruto's breathing, which slowly went back to normal as Sasuke watched her intently.

Sasuke smiled gently as she slowly opened her eyes and turned to him, and he heard her breath hitch when she focused on him. They stared at each other for what seemed like a single moment, yet stretched a whole eternity.

Naruto was the first to break the unusual silence. She turned away and smoothed down her cloak and ran her fingers through her hair. The moment over, Sasuke sat down in his chair again, and waited as the blonde plopped into her chair that he'd straightened earlier.

"How'd you expect me to go out with you? A missing nin on a date with the Rokudaime Hokage?" she asked him, grinning lopsidedly.

Sasuke's heart skipped a beat – she hadn't turned him down! He took it as a good sign. A very good sign.

"Simple," he answered, smirking a little. "Henge isn't an option since we have the Hyuuga in Konoha. So – hair dye, makeup and contact lenses."

Naruto pursed her lips contemplatively, and Sasuke fought the urge to lean over and kiss those lips. He forced his eyes away from her red lips to her eyes. "You're crazy," was her conclusion. Sasuke chuckled lightly. He felt light-hearted, knowing she wasn't turning him down.

"You've rubbed off on me," he replied. She scowled.

"I don't have anything to wear, unless you don't mind me wearing this Akatsuki cloak." Her eyes gleamed mischievously. Sasuke smirked, and Naruto moved back a little at the sight of it. It was a 'you're-not-getting-off-that-easily' smirk.

"I have some dresses–" he began. Naruto choked on spit.

"You kinky bastard!" Her mouth opened and closed a few times, and her cheeks turned red. "Man, I can just imagine you in a dress!" her eyes were wide and unfocused, a small blush spread across her face, the mental image presumably playing in her mind.

Sasuke flushed. "No, baka!" An eyebrow twitched, as did a fist. Naruto came back to earth and winked suggestively at him, grinning widely.

"Hey, I don't mind your kinkiness. Heck, I'd kill to see you in a dress!"

Sasuke's eyes widened and his jaw hung loose for a few seconds as a fierce blush crept onto his cheeks. Naruto laughed hysterically and slapped him on the back.

He was immediately broken from the spell at her action, and quickly turned to her. She had stopped laughing and was looking thoughtfully at her left hand – the one that had touched him so casually, so naturally. Sasuke noted with a sense of gladness that she wasn't trembling or shaking. She closed her eyes for a second, then turned to him, grinning. The laughter was back in her eyes, and it was such a contrast to the blank eyes Sasuke remembered seeing the first few times she re-appeared in Konoha.

"Seriously, I wouldn't mind you getting kinky," she said slyly.

Sasuke smirked, his composure regained. "Only if you get kinky _together_ with me," he answered in a husky voice.

Her eyes widened a little and her breath hitched. Cerulean blue stared into deep onyx, but neither managed to get deep, since both were so guarded. Naruto looked away first.

"You kinky bastard," she repeated a little shakily.

Sasuke forced his pounding heart to slow down. The blonde shook herself and grinned. Sasuke smiled faintly.

"So, kinky-Sasuke, you were saying?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed slyly and a little evil grin curved his lips. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "As I was saying before your perverted self interrupted," he replied, "I have some dresses – ladies' kimono, actually. They used to belong to my okaasan."

Naruto blanched a little. "Ah… sorry… I wouldn't have made fun of you if I had known they were your okaasan's…"

Sasuke waved it away. "It was nothing. Don't worry." He smirked. "Back to business. I can provide the kimono, the hair dye, the makeup and the contacts. Any other questions?"

Naruto's face scrunched up adorably, doing funny things to Sasuke's insides and making his smirk loosen into a fond smile.

"How're you gonna get the other stuff?" she asked, putting her elbows on the table so her palms could cradle her cheeks, pushing them so that they looked squished against her face.

"You don't have to worry about that. Now," he said, "can you be here during the sakura season? Konoha is having the annual Sakura Festival, which Tsunade and I are to officiate." His voice and expression turned a little hesitant, and a faint pink dusted his cheeks. His gaze lowered from her face to bashfully focus on the table as he fought his sudden nervousness. "I was hoping… you could a-accompany me. T-that is, I hope you could be my d-date to the Festival."

His blush rose with each stutter and the continued silence from Naruto. When he finally gathered enough courage to look at her face, he saw she was smirking mischievously. "You do a pretty mean impression of Hinata, Sasuke!" she exclaimed, and broke into a wide grin.

All bashfulness fled from him, and Sasuke scowled and turned away. A small feeling of hurt rose in him when he realized that Naruto wasn't taking this seriously – wasn't taking him seriously. But her next sentence chased the thoughts and hurt away.

"I'd love to go on a date with you, Sasuke." The sincerity in her voice was unmistakable. Sasuke's eyes quickly rested on her face, and at the sight of her warm, gentle smile, his heart thudded against his chest and he felt like he was somewhere in between the heavens and earth, frozen in time.

"I…" he finally managed. "…thank you, Naruto."

The blonde blinked very slowly." The pleasure is mine," she answered softly.

Sasuke's heart seemed to have expanded and was now trying to burst out of his ribcage. A silly, goofy grin stretched his lips before he managed to tone it down into a small smile. He definitely couldn't wait for their date.

He told her the date of the Festival's opening day. "Can you make it?" he asked a little anxiously. "You'll need to be here one day earlier so you can dye your hair. I… I understand if you can't." _Please be able to come, please please please be able to make it!_ Inner Sasuke cried, pulling on his bangs anxiously.

Naruto rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm… hmmm… No promises," she replied slowly, "but I _think_ I should be able to be here."

Inner Sasuke bounced off mental walls.

Sasuke felt relief wash over him, and nervousness in anticipation of their date began to set in. He couldn't help smiling at her, and worked hard to resist the urge to put his arms around her and pull her close.

Naruto smiled back, then cracked a large yawn and blinked back a few yawn-induced tears. She rubbed her yes, then ran a hand through her hair and scratched her scalp lazily. "I think it's gotten pretty late. I have to get going early tomorrow, so…" she paused uncertainly and looked at Sasuke hesitantly.

The brunet almost rolled his eyes at her. She'd been sleeping in his bed for the past four nights and every night that she'd dropped by previously, and each time she dared not impose herself on him.

"You're welcome in my bed anytime," he said without thinking, then tried to force back a blush when Naruto raised an eyebrow and grinned.

"You pervert. Kinky-pervert-bastard." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at him. Sasuke's heart was racing, but he managed to smirk in what he hoped was a sexy manner.

"Only if you get kinky and perverted with me, remember?" he said huskily, and watched in satisfaction as she swallowed when her eyes met his. He stood up and walked to his bedroom after turning off the kitchen lights. He heard her chair scrape back and her barely-audible footsteps following him.

As had become usual for the past four nights, he entered the bedroom first, held the door open for her, then closed it and sealed the room after she entered. He turned around to settle in his usual position, but noticed with faint curiosity that instead of lying down near the edge of his king-sized bed like she always did, this time she lay on her side near the further edge of the bed. She avoided his eyes.

"I feel bad for making you sit on the floor all the time while I use your bed," she said quietly. "Why don't you… I mean, come and lean against the edge of the bed, at the very least." She stretched her hand and patted the edge of the mattress she usually lay on.

Sasuke's pulse started accelerating as he slowly walked the short distance and sat down so that his side leaned against the bed. He cradled his head with his arms so that they were resting on the mattress in such a way that he could watch her unobtrusively. He didn't say anything, but kept his eyes on her the whole time, and noticed how she was following his movements.

Very slowly and hesitantly, the hand nearest to him reached out and gently stroked his cheek. Her hand was shaking lightly, but her eyes were guarded.

Sasuke closed his eyes and leaned into her touch, and immediately missed the warmth when her hand returned to her side. His skin tingled where she had touched, and he forced himself to remember the sensation of her skin against his.

She fell asleep not too long after that, and Sasuke watched her until he too drifted off to sleep.

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**The Author has More to Say:** I was writing this line when I finally hit on the title for this fic: 'They stared at each other for what seemed like a single moment, yet stretched a whole eternity.' Heheh. Can anyone guess the 'songspiration' for the title? 'In that moment' itself is a part of a line from the song. There's another line from the song somewhere in the fic, too. I wonder whether anyone will be able to guess… XD

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	9. Chapter 9

**The Author Says:** It's confirmed! The bad news is this: I have a full-time job! Yikes. I dunno how my lazy ass is gonna survive a full-time job. And I'm sorry if I made it sound like the news was something really bad! It's just that I am a little upset that my fanfic-writing (and reading!) time will be cut dramatically. Add that to the fact that I'm a lazy ass in the first place, and you get: Even Slower Updates! Sigh. Also, I start work sometime this week, so the next update might take a while.

I noticed no one tried to guess the title of the song from which the title of this fic is taken. Probably coz most of you didn't understand what I was rambling about at the end of the previous chapter. Basically it's this: the words 'in that moment' are part of a song's lyrics, and I'm just wondering if any of you readers out there can guess which song it is :-)

Last bit. This chapter is relatively very long! I dunno what possessed me to write such a long chapter. Don't expect chapters to always be this length :-P

U/L: 3rd March 2008.

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**In That Moment**

by _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 9**

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Sasuke sat in his usual chair in his kitchen, resisting the urge to get up and pace. Instead, his fingers tapped out an impatient rhythm on the wooden table.

Naruto was late. Alright, fine – she wasn't _late_, per se. She was usually already in his apartment and into his ramen by the time he got home, but tonight she hadn't appeared yet, and Sasuke was a little worried. Who knew what could have happened during the past weeks? Practically every hidden village had declared Akatsuki their enemy, and almost all the villages had kill-on-sight orders issued, secondary only to run-for-your-life orders.

Speaking of other hidden villages, Sasuke was reminded of Sunagakure. He remembered how Gaara almost killed him the first time the Kazekage came to Konoha and found out that Naruto had disappeared. He had constantly demanded updates of the situation, and had even sent out some Suna search parties, but to no avail. Then, about three years ago, he had abruptly stopped questioning Konoha about Naruto. Had he known about Naruto? If so, did she make him keep the secret?

It began to rain even more heavily outside, but Sasuke didn't pay attention.

Tomorrow was the opening ceremony of Konohagakure's Annual Sakura Festival. Tsunade had grudgingly reminded him about their joint responsibility to officiate the ceremony tomorrow. Sasuke was just relieved that it was mainly just a formality, and that he did not have to make fancy speeches about how he loved the village and other such nonsense.

Suddenly, a spike in chakra signaled the apparition of a cloaked figure into the room. The cloaked figure quickly henge-d into an empty instant ramen cup that clattered to the floor. Sasuke would have raised an eyebrow, but he felt the incoming chakra signatures, and soon there were a series of smart knocks on his kitchen window. He scowled lightly and got up to open the window. On the way, he kicked the ramen cup out of sight under the table.

"What?" he barked at the two ANBU crouching on the wall in such a way that they could peer into the window.

"My apologies, Rokudaime-sama, but an Akatsuki member was spotted in Sector 11 of the village. ANBU-8 is in active pursuit."

Sasuke didn't have to feign his displeasure at their incompetence. His scowl deepened. "How many times has this happened? Your superiors will have to answer to me for your incompetence after the festival. Apprehend the criminal, or be demoted to chuunin." He slammed the window shut in their faces, and scowled at the puddle on the floor under the window, and at his own damp standard-issue turtleneck front. He wiped some water from his face and cast a privacy seal onto his apartment.

A 'poof' sounded, then a 'thunk' as Naruto bumped her head on the underside of his table. "Oww…" she grumbled, and crawled out rubbing her head. "You didn't have to kick _that_ hard, bastard."

Sasuke felt so relieved to see her unharmed, though soaking wet. But he scowled at her. "You're late."

She scowled back. "I ran into some problems, as you know. You conveniently forgot to mention the increased security. I had to lead them away from your place or people would be wondering what the Rokudaime Hokage was doing letting an Akatsuki member into his house in the middle of the night."

Sasuke smiled faintly at that, and really wanted to hug her close; to feel her pressed against him, and to let her know how worried he was. His concerned for her alarmed him to some degree – it was at such odds with his usual cold self, but at the same time it felt natural, and welcome, even. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Kage bunshin, huh?" he said instead, referring to whatever the ANBU were chasing in Sector 11.

She grinned impishly. "Oh yeah."

He sighed fondly and walked out of the kitchen, beckoning her to follow. He heard her hiss slightly, as if in pain, and turned around in concern. Naruto had a hand pressed to her side and was grimacing. She looked up to see Sasuke looking at her, and waved the other arm at him dismissively.

"It's nothing. Just a slight cut I got during a mission," she said. Sasuke rolled his eyes and shot her an exasperated look.

"Twenty years old and you still can't protect yourself. Looks like you need me around to protect you, dobe," he drawled rather condescendingly.

Naruto scowled darkly at him. "As arrogant as ever. I. don't. need. your. help," she told him angrily, and moved her eyes away from his face. She stomped past him into his bedroom and sat heavily on the bed, crossing her arms across her chest and scowling. She didn't switch on the light, so Sasuke did as he entered. She blinked at the sudden brightness and turned to stare at the floor to his left.

Sasuke sighed softly. He hadn't really meant to insult her – it just came naturally.

"If you come back to Konoha, you wouldn't have to get hurt all the time," he said softly as he stood in front of her. She didn't turn to him, but her scowl became darker and she fisted her hands tightly.

"I'm a ninja – getting hurt is part of the job description," she told him through gritted teeth. Her fists tightened. "And I've told you before – I'm not coming back to Konoha."

Sasuke's eyebrows creased as he frowned. He crouched down. "Why not?" he demanded quietly. "You've never told me."

He could see her fists tighten even more until they started to shake. She took some deep breaths before replying.

"I _have_ told you. I'm the bane of Konoha – why would I want to come back? Not when I can live where people don't glare coldly at me for something I have no control over, and curse me behind my back." She abruptly turned to him. Her eyes were hidden by her bangs, but he could almost feel their intensity. "Listen, Sasuke. I came here coz you asked me on a date, not to get the third degree from you. Can we drop this topic? Or else I'm leaving."

Sasuke stiffened and frowned. Naruto looked away. The brunet clenched his fists a little angrily as silence descended on the room.

He wanted to know her reasons for staying away. It seemed so hypocritical of her – wanting to be Hokage and forever trying to drag him back when they were younger, only now to stay away from the village, not wanting to come back. Yet at the same time, if there was one thing Uchiha Sasuke knew about Uzumaki Naruto, it was that the blonde was never a hypocrite, and Sasuke was very sure it wasn't any different for Namikaze Naruto. Unfortunately, she obviously didn't want to talk about it, and him pressing her about the issue would only drive her away. It was something he could not afford to do right now. He wanted her near so much. He thought of her and missed her and worried about her when during the days she was away, and wanted to have her by his side and protect her from Akatsuki and the blinded, close-minded people of Konoha. He wanted to help her overcome her haphephobia, then hold her so close he could feel her heartbeat against his.

His brows furrowed even more. He was aware of the fact that he obviously thought of her as more than a rival, an ex-teammate, or even a mere friend. The question was – did he want to let go of his inhibitions and let down his walls to allow the feelings to grow? More importantly, did she feel for him even the slightest of what he felt for her?

He inhaled and exhaled deeply and slowly, and looked up to see Naruto peering curiously at him with only traces of her earlier scowl left on her face. He stood up and ran his fingers through his hair as he turned away from her.

"The stuff is in the bathroom in a paper bag. You can't miss it. I also included a special type of body lotion that will disguise your skin tone and scent." He indicated towards the bathroom.

"Okay," Naruto replied, then suddenly hissed in pain when she stood up. Sasuke whirled around in concern to see her bent over a little, gingerly pressing a hand to her side. "It's nothing," she gritted out, then squeezed her eyes shut as another wave of pain seemed to overtake her.

"It's not nothing," Sasuke said a little snappishly, annoyed that he couldn't touch her to examine the wound. Naruto managed a glare in his direction before unbuttoning her cloak and letting to fall to the floor. Sasuke frowned deeply at the state of her clothes – they were bloodied and torn. What worried him the most, however, was the piece of metal he saw sticking out from her side. He slowly stepped nearer to her. "You call that _nothing_?" he asked, and glared at her. "How did you get that?"

She glared at him again before contorting her face in pain. "Uhh… I got in the way of a kunai wrapped with an exploding note. Two pieces got in when it exploded to bits. The other piece is out, and now the Kyuubi's chakra is pushing this one out so the wound can heal. Don't worry – it's about to come out already."

Sasuke watched in morbid fascination with his Sharingan activated. He could see the orange-red chakra surrounding the metal in a wave-like pattern, pushing it out of Naruto's side.

"I'll pull it out," he said. Naruto quickly shook her head.

"No need, it's coming out," she rasped, taking a step back. Sasuke shook his head, his Sharingan spinning slowly.

"It'll be faster if I pull it out," he insisted. He had almost added a 'dobe; at the end of that sentence. "Trust me."

Naruto stiffened at his last two words, and glanced up at him. She was frowning in pain, but otherwise she didn't move. Sasuke took it as permission, and stepped nearer to her. He could see her eyes were following his every move.

Sasuke slowly lifted his hand and firmly gripped the piece of metal sticking out of her flesh. He could see her tense up even more. "You need to relax. This will probably hurt a little," he told her. "One, two…" and he pilled the kunai piece out smoothly.

Naruto gave a small grunt of pain and closed her eyes. Sasuke put the bloodied metal piece onto his nightstand and flashed through some handseals. A pale green sphere of chakra enveloped his hands, and he let his palms hover over the bleeding wound in Naruto's side. She started in surprise.

"You know healing jutsu?" she asked.

Sasuke grunted, feeling a little offended at her surprised tone. "Hn. Sakura taught me. Now stay still and keep quiet or I might grow you a tumour." He didn't look up at her face, but she kept still. He watched the edges of her skin ease together and fuse under his palms, and let go when the process was complete. He exhaled and sat back on his haunches, and glanced up at the blonde, who was having an impressed look on her face. She reached down to poke at the newly-closed wound. Sasuke quickly swatted her hand away, but not before she managed one poke.

"Ow!" She quickly retracted her hand and moved a few steps back.

"Don't touch it yet, baka. You might re-open it," Sasuke scolded, and stood up to sit on the bed. He looked up to see her staring at him with an unreadable expression on her face. Her eyes were partially hidden by her blonde fringe. He stared back at her, trying to fathom what she was thinking, but after a while she shook herself and grinned.

"The stuff's in the bathroom, ne? I'll get started, then." She left the room.

Sasuke reached down to pick up her discarded Akatsuki cloak. It was thoroughly wet, and muddy in a few spots. He ran his fingers over the tear that corresponded to the wound he had just healed, and turned the cloak around to find another similar tear. Probably the entry site of the second piece of metal. He closed his eyes and grimaced for a moment, then stood and took a hanger out of his clothes cupboard and hung the cloak on one of the pegs standing in a row on the wall.

That done, he walked out of his bedroom to the living room, seated himself on the couch and reached for a scroll he had left there when he had arrived home earlier. Usually he would have finished his work in the office, but today he had decided to take the scroll home with him to wait for Naruto. He left at the same time as his secretary, who had given him a strange look, since he had never left before or at the same time she did.

He immersed himself in reading the scroll, only vaguely aware that Naruto was taking her own sweet time in the bathroom. After about an hour, he heard the bathroom door open, and looked up in anticipation. A few seconds later, a dark brown head poked itself into the room, followed by the rest of the body it was attached to. Sasuke looked over the disguised Naruto judgmentally.

The dye he had given her turned her hair a rich mahogany brown, and the lotion he had provided covered up her tan quite well, leaving her with a skin tone almost as pale as his. Cheek pads made her formerly-well defined cheekbones more chubby. She had tried on the makeup and contacts, so her whisker marks were gone, and her eyes were now a nondescript chocolate brown. Altogether she didn't look particularly memorable or outstanding, or Naruto-ish – just the way he had planned it.

With a tight feeling in his chest he realized he wanted the real blue-eyed blonde, not a fake brown-hued woman. He sighed softly and smiled gently at her. She was looking at him quizzically, dressed in one of his yukata that he had laid out for her. It was a little too big for her, but not by much, since he wasn't that much bigger than her.

"I look really different," she remarked, pushing up the loose sleeves of the yukata as she rubbed her pale arms. The cheek pads in her mouth made her voice a little different.

"That would be the whole point," he answered dryly. She replied by sticking out her tongue at him, and flinging herself into the chair beside his. He pushed back an absent-minded wish that she'd seated herself beside him on the sofa instead of in another chair, and picked up the scroll again.

A soft growl interrupted his reading, and he looked up with a bemused face to see Naruto rubbing her stomach sheepishly.

"Heheh. Haven't eaten since last night, since I was kinda in a hurry to get here," she informed him. He felt a prickle of warmth in his chest at what she said. She had actually hurried here, and didn't even stop to eat. He didn't know for sure if Naruto's eating habits had changed, and he didn't think they had, but he was pretty sure Naruto willingly skipping a meal was a big deal. The corners of his lips quirked up in a small smile and he casually jabbed a finger in the direction of his kitchen.

"You know where the ramen is," he said, and his smile grew at the way her now-brown eyes widened and her lips stretched into a pleased grin. She bounced off the chair and practically ran to the kitchen.

"Lov— I mean, you totally rock, Sasuke!" she called back.

Sasuke closed his eyes and breathed out as his fingers unconsciously tightened around the scroll. It was the second time she had almost let _that_ word slip. Did she really mean it or was it just a figure of speech? Then again, if it _was_ just a figure of speech, she wouldn't stop herself from finishing the word, right? But if she meant to say what Sasuke thought (_hoped,_ Inner Sasuke supplied, and got trashed for this troubles), why did she always cut herself off? Maybe she didn't really feel that way… after all, he did almost kill her when they were genin, and all but kicked her out of the village himself five years ago…

The sounds of Naruto bustling back into the living room made him look up. She was carrying a tray he didn't know he had, and on the tray were at least eight steaming cups of ramen. He gave her a fondly exasperated look, and she pouted at him.

"What? I am _hungry_."

To his mild surprise, she carefully handed him one cup, together with a pair of chopsticks. She shrugged in response to his quirked eyebrow. "Just thought you might be hungry too. If you aren't, it's fine, coz there's always room for more ramen in my stomach."

Sasuke smiled, feeling touched that she'd actually prepared one cup for him. "Thanks."

They quietly ate their ramen. Sasuke noticed that Naruto wasn't eating as messily and loudly as usual, and commented on it. The blonde half-scowled, half-pouted at him.

"Meanie. You and Itachi-niisan are so similar. He told me he'd stick me in Tsukiyomi if I didn't learn some manners and etiquette."

Sasuke's expression and mood darkened at the mention of _that_ man's name. He didn't like the fact that _he_ was still alive, and that Naruto was hanging around _him_ more than she was around Sasuke.

The blonde merely examined him for a few moments with an expression Sasuke couldn't figure out, then yawned and stood up.

"I'm dead tired," she said, and yawned again. She stretched, and Sasuke caught himself appreciating the way his yukata slid and tightened over her chest as her arms went upwards.

"Let's go to bed, Sasuke," she yawned, and stood up to start walking toward his bedroom. Sasuke pointedly ignored the jolt his lower regions felt at her words, and rolled up the scroll neatly before getting up and heading to his bedroom, trying to stop his heart from pounding so hard.

She was putting away the brown contact lenses when he entered. He waited for her to finish and sit on the bed before switching off the light and walking towards the bed, feeling just so warm and strangely content at how wonderfully normal these actions felt. As they were part of their nightly routine. His chest tightened with the longing for it to come true.

He sat himself in a comfortable position and rested his head on the mattress, and smiled gently at her. She started to smile back, but ended up yawning instead.

"What were you reading earlier, 'Suke?" she asked, blinking at him. He could barely make out the blue of her eyes.

He didn't hesitate to answer. "Negotiations for an alliance from Takigakure."

Naruto thought for a while, then chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I remember that place with the weird water and that whiny guy. What are their terms?"

She either didn't see that it wasn't exactly proper for the Rokudaime Hokage to be discussing village affairs with a missing nin – an Akatsuki member, no less – in the bedroom, or just didn't care. It was the latter in Sasuke's case.

"They want an exchange of some jutsu, but their list of jutsu that we don't already know is too short. There is nothing we can gain from them in terms of trade, and they aren't willing to hand over any samples of their Hero Water."

"Tell them the most Konoha would do is to teach them basic medical jutsu, and maybe a couple of ninjutsu, and that we'd accept their list of jutsu. Intel concerning village security, like rumours of wars or the movement of common enemies, must be shared wholly and willingly. If they want more than that, then they might as well swear allegiance to Konoha and become a Konoha outpost, with their Hero-person a subordinate of the Hokage's."

The Rokudaime was impressed, and let it show in his face, together with a raised eyebrow. She caught his expression and looked away. "I mean, those are the terms I'd state if I was Ho… if I had to decide." She yawned and curled up, bringing her knees halfway up to her chin and curling an arm over them.

Sasuke sighed, and looked away as the feeling of guilt came back. "You'd make a better Hokage than me," he murmured. He couldn't quite keep the longing out of his voice as he spoke again. "If only you'd come back."

He looked to the blonde to see that she had closed her eyes and her face was blank.

"Please, let's not get into that again, 'Suke." Her voice was a little pleading. "And I've told you – stop feeling guilty about me leaving the village. It wasn't merely you – you could say that it was mostly because of Konoha."

She exhaled, and a small smile curved her lips. "Oyasumi, 'Suke."

Sasuke stared at her for a long moment before closing his eyes. "Oyasumi, Naruto."

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**The Author has More to Say:** Did you guys think I'd get to the date so soon? Muahahaha…

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	10. Chapter 10

**The Author Says:** One word. WORK.

U/L: 11th March 2008

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**In That Moment**

by _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 10**

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Sasuke stirred lightly as a faint ray of sunlight hit his face. He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them, and was rewarded with the picture of a sweet face, whose eyes were closed in sleep. For a split second he tensed, then his sleep-clouded brain cleared enough for him to remember that it was Naruto.

He felt his heart expand within his chest, and realized that he loved waking up beside her, although he would much prefer her natural blonde hair and tan skin. Her makeup that hid the whisker marks had rubbed off a little – onto his pillow, he noticed in annoyance – so that the marks were partially visible.

He watched as her nose twitched, followed by her eyelids. Then she blearily opened her eyes, and Sasuke almost hungrily drank in the sight of her cerulean blue irises. She blinked as she focused on him, then she gave him a gentle, sweet smile, and he all but melted. It was official – he wanted it so much – to wake up next to her every morning.

"Ohayo," she whispered, and giggled softly. He smiled in the dim dawn sunlight.

"Ohayo," he whispered back. Very slowly, he reached out and cupped her cheek, and let his fingers trail over her skin as he drew his hand back. His gaze never left her eyes, and their smiles never left their faces, though Naruto did stiffen a little.

"Don't I get a good morning kiss?" Sasuke whispered teasingly, enjoying the light pink that dusted her cheeks. His breath caught as she brought her hand to touch her lips slowly and deliberately, then slowly let that hand move over to his face and pressed the fingers she had kissed to his lightly trembling lips. Her eyes never left his. She was rewarded with a dazed smile as she pulled back her hand.

"Thank you," he whispered, and she grinned mischievously at him.

"Why are we whispering?" she whispered.

Sasuke grinned lightly. "I don't know," he whispered back. She giggled girlishly, then turned to face the ceiling as she stretched luxuriously. Sasuke watched her movements appreciatively. He shook his head a little, then got up and stretched, and looked to the bed to find Naruto's eyes on him.

"You go ahead and use the bathroom first," he told her. She nodded and hopped off the bed. Sasuke dropped gracefully into the bed and snuggled into the warmth she left behind. He scowled at the makeup-stained pillow, and pulled off the soiled cover so as to use the bare pillow. He buried his face in it, but knew that her scent wouldn't be there – the body lotion he gave her ensured that much. It erased her original scent and replaced it with a flowery, perfume-like one.

About ten minutes later, she reentered the room clad in the same yukata, but looked fresher. He watched her put on makeup and style her hair into a simple bun, leaving the contacts for last, at his request. He wanted to see as much of those blue eyes as he could.

Finally she turned to him. Her skin was pale, due to the lotion, and her eyelids had a pastel purple hue, thanks to the makeup he had provided. Her whisker marks were re-concealed, and her lips were a pastel pink that made him want to kiss her.

"The kimono is in my cupboard," he said, lazily stretching out his leg and pointing with a toe to indicate the cupboard as he hugged the pillow to his chest. She nodded cheerfully, went over to the cupboard and opened it. Sasuke watched her eyes widen.

"It's beautiful," she exclaimed softly, lifting out the kimono. It was dark purple, with pale purple and pink sakura flowers and petals, seemingly swept by a breeze to swirl around the kimono. Rising from the lower hem to knee were delicate bamboo shoots. The leaves were pastel green and the stems were pale brow. The obi was blue in colour – a cerulean blue that matched the original colour of her eyes.

Sasuke swung his legs over the edge of the bed and sat up. "It was one of my mother's favourite kimono. I guess it's the one I liked best, too." He ran his fingers through his bangs and smiled gently at the way Naruto's expression softened. With a small, soft smile on her lips, she ran a hand over the delicate embroidery of the kimono's designs. It was one of the reasons Sasuke liked the kimono very much – the patterns of sakura and bamboo were actually embroidered on the material, and not mere prints. He vaguely remembered liking to run his hands over the silky cloth and feel the embroidery when he was young and his mother was still alive.

He pushed himself off the bed and went to the bathroom to bathe and do his morning routine. In less than ten minutes he exited the bathroom and entered his room to see Naruto fully dressed and seated demurely on his bed. She looked up shyly, and he saw that the contacts were in, and sighed inwardly. He sat next to her, but at a distance she'd be comfortable with.

"Thank you for taking me on this date, Sasuke-san," Naruto said in a shy voice, not quite meeting his eyes. Her hands were folded gently in her lap.

It was so unlike her that Sasuke shot her a deadpan look and raised an eyebrow. "What's up with you? Why are you so shy and formal all of a sudden?"

The demure look disappeared and she looked half-annoyed and half-frustrated. She folded her arms across her chest and stuck her tongue out at him. "Che," she said, "I was just getting into character. I can't be my usual loud self, and I can't be the squealing, clinging girlfriend, so all that's left is the sweet, shy girl." She looked a little embarrassed and turned her eyes away from his.

Sasuke blinked, then chuckled. He was a little amused and quite touched that she had thought quite a bit about their date. "I see. Not bad," he said, his lips curved in a smirk. "Alright, now listen closely – this will be your cover story." He outlined the background he had made up for the person Naruto would be pretending to be, and told her to sneak out of Konoha and come back in through the gate. He would meet her there.

They went into the kitchen, where he pulled out some pork buns from his fridge and handed two to her, keeping one for himself and eating it.

"You remember everything? Because if you don't you might get discovered, and with stepped-up security you'd probably get caught before I can get you out safely—" he started to say with a vaguely worried look, but she interrupted him, scowling and rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. I know, Sasuke, and I can handle it. I'm a good ninja – if I've come this far with the Akatsuki, I can definitely handle one day in Konoha with you."

Sasuke didn't fully understand how 'coming this far with the Akatsuki' equated her being able to handle herself, but he didn't press it. Instead, he nodded. "Fine. You'd best get going now – it's almost an hour past dawn, and the civilians will be stirring soon." He really wanted to give her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, but settled for grabbing her hand and giving it a firm squeeze before letting go. He was relieved that she didn't start, or pull away, although she did tense.

She grinned and nodded at him. "Okay – see you in three hours, bastard." She disappeared in a puff of smoke.

_Be safe,_ Sasuke thought to her.

xxXXxxXXxx

Sasuke strode elegantly down the streets of Konoha, heading towards the gates. He had met with various people in charge of various parts of the festival, inspected the stage and security for one last time, and was now on his way to get his date.

He realized he was a little nervous – his palms were a little sweaty, his heart was going faster than normal, and butterflies had taken up residence in his stomach. None of it registered on his face, though. He made sure of that.

It was his first date. Women had thrown themselves at him, hoping to snag the Rokudaime, but he'd turned them flat. Even before Naruto made her re-appearance, he hadn't been interested in any of the women, so much so that rumours had been going around about his sexuality, or lack thereof.

And now here he was – excited and nervous about his date with a disguised missing nin, an Akatsuki member and man-turned-woman-who-was-originally-born-a-woman. Who happened to be the daughter of the most beloved former Hokage – the Yondaime – and his former teammate and rival/best friend.

Sasuke nodded to the people who bowed respectfully to him as he walked, and paid no attention to the fluttering eyelashes and simpering smiles. He took a deep breath as the huge gates came into view, and as he got nearer, he spotted the purple-clad figure waiting at the guardhouse, eyes cast demurely to the ground. It seemed the chuunin guards were trying to chat her up, and she kept shaking her head.

"—with me? Your friend doesn't seem to be showing up," one of the chuunin, a brown-haired man, said with a predatory grin as he moved to stand next to Naruto, who smoothly stepped away. The other chuunin, a black-haired one, leered at Naruto.

A surge of anger flashed though Sasuke, and he quickened his strides to reach the guardhouse. The two chuunin had now their backs to him, and were so concentrated on talking to Naruto that they didn't sense his approach. He saw that Naruto did sense him, and she finally looked up. A faint pink coloured her cheeks before she quickly looked down again, with a smile playing at the corners of her lips.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and cleared his throat. A bit of killing intent leaked out, and the moment they sensed it, the two chuunin guards whirled around in a hurry. Their hands shot to their kunai pouches, but they both snapped upright and bowed smartly when they saw who it was.

The Rokudaime folded his arms across his chest. "Why are you both not at your post?" he asked coldly, glaring at them.

"We were just speaking to this lady, Uchiha-sama," the brown-haired one replied quickly.

The Uchiha's expression became frosty, and more killing intent leaked out. The nerve of these two trying to snag _his_ date!

"I wasn't aware that it was part of your duties to talk to every visitor who entered the gates," he snapped in an icy tone. The two chuunin were staring at the ground nervously.

"We, uh –" began one of them, but Naruto's voice cut in. She spoke in a voice that was almost a whisper.

"Sasuke-san," was all she said.

Sasuke made a conscious effort to let go of his anger, and turned to her. She smiled gently at him, and he returned the gesture. He noticed the shock of the two chuunin, and realized that it was probably the first time he had ever smiled, to the knowledge of the residents of Konoha.

"Hatsutori Kazuha," he greeted her warmly, using an alias he had cooked up. "Welcome to my village – Konohagakure. I hope these imbeciles have not disturbed you in any way?" he said, narrowing his eyes at the staring chuunin, who scrambled back to their post and stared from that safer distance.

She lifted her eyes to glance at him shyly, then dropped her gaze back to the ground. "I am honoured that you would invite me, Sasuke-san. And these two gentlemen have been kindly keeping me company as I waited for you," she replied.

'_Kindly keeping me company'._ Sasuke almost snorted, but instead he gestured for her to enter. She took small, feminine steps to his side, and they walked into Konoha together. When they were out of earshot of the chuunin, Naruto spoke softly from the corner of her mouth, and Sasuke happily leaned in to listen, inwardly enjoying all the disappointed and jealous looks Naruto was getting from the majority of the single females they passed. He knew they looked good together – he had purposely chosen a royal blue kimono with a more masculine, geometric pattern of pale pink and purple sakura decorating the hems of the sleeve, and had bamboo shoots below the knees nearly identical to those on Naruto's kimono. They were basically matching and complementing each other.

"What took you? I had to stand there and tolerate those two idiots! I so felt like giving them both a kick to the shins," Naruto whispered furiously, but kept her face a mask of politeness.

Sasuke chuckled softly. "Sorry, Kazuha-san. Last-minute things."

Naruto made a petulant sound, then stayed quiet and started to look at their surroundings as they made their way to the village center, where the opening ceremony would be held. A large crowd had gathered in front of the stage. As they approached the crowd, two ANBU suddenly materialized in front of Sasuke and dropped to one knee respectfully. Beside him, Naruto gave a short squeal and stumbled back a few steps. Sasuke quickly turned to her in alarm and saw the look of fright on her face. He shot to her side.

"Are you alright, Kazuha-san?" he murmured in concern.

"I-I'm alright, Sasuke-san. Your ninja just startled me, that's all," she answered in a breathless voice that Sasuke knew right away she was faking. He mentally grinned at her quick thinking – 'Hatsutori Kazuha' had never met ANBU before, and would definitely have been startled, at the very least, by the sudden appearance of the two shinobi.

"Uchiha-sama," one of them intoned, "Godaime-sama requests your presence at the stage, as the ceremony will begin in ten minutes."

Sasuke nodded curtly at the ANBU, who rose to their feet, bowed, and disappeared. He turned to Naruto.

"Good thinking," he whispered with a small grin, then continued in a louder voice, "I have to go, Kazuha-san. Will you be alright on your own?" He was truly concerned about leaving her alone.

'Kazuha's' face smiled gently, but Sasuke could see her eyes harden. She replied, "Thank you for your concern, Sasuke-san, but I'm sure I'll be fine." Then she leaned near to him and whispered, "And if you ever insinuate that I'm not able to take care of myself again, I'll personally ensure that you won't be continuing the Uchiha line, bastard."

She straightened, gave him a sweet smile that completely contradicted yet emphasized what she had just said, and demurely looked to the ground.

Sasuke scowled. He was concerned about her, that baka! But it was such a Naruto-ish response that his scowl turned into a faint smile, and he actually chuckled softly. Naruto glanced at him curiously, but he just shook his head, then nodded to her and left for the stage.

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**The Author has More to Say:** And so the date begins! I really hope you guys weren't expecting a real romantic thing. Not happening (not yet, at least) in this story, probably.

Naruto's alias, 'Hatsutori Kazuha', is a combination of the names of two characters of another manga. Can anyone guess which manga it is? Although I guess if I want you to guess it's only fair to tell you that the name 'Hatsutori' is a corruption of the character's real name. I read this manga in the native language of my country, and I have no idea why they decided to stick an extra syllable into his name. Sigh.

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	11. Chapter 11

**The Author Says:** Me's sowee!! Work leaves me tired. Haven't really had time to read fanfics, much less write my own. Sigh.

**Crystal Promise** guessed the song right! And, no, the names aren't from Fruits Basket. There was a clue in my profile ;-) well… sorta. Anyways, **Kuro-no-Tsubasa** and **Janneia** guessed the manga/anime correctly! Woohoo! Thank you all who tried, though! Quite a few people mentioned Fruits Basket. Is it good? I haven't read it.

I got a flame for this fic. **rEAPER**, I seriously don't know what your problem is. If you don't like this fic, don't read it. If you have a bone to pick with me, at least have the courtesy of letting me know what your issues are in a civilized manner. Sheesh. This update _might_ have been held up a little coz of this flame. I was a _little_ annoyed after reading it.

But otherwise, thank you all so much for your reviews! I might not have the time to reply to all of them, but I do read and treasure all the reviews. I'm not as great as all your praises say, but they keep me motivated and encouraged. They keep me smiling in the face of mindless curses. Yes, **rEAPER**, I'm referring to your… waste of cyberspace you call a review.

Btw, to those that think Sasuke's in trouble with Tsunade – that's not it. Sasuke was called away by the ANBU to join Tsunade at the stage coz the ceremony was about to start and they had to officiate it together.

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**In That Moment**

by _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 11**

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"Who's that girl?" Tsunade asked point-blank once he had reached her side. Sasuke's expression became frigid.

"I wasn't aware that part of the Hokage's duties were to spy on their subordinate's personal lives," he answered icily as he started up the stage behind her.

Tsunade wasn't intimidated. "Get the stick out of your ass, Uchiha. The Uchiha clan is the responsibility of Konoha; as such, whoever you choose to revive your clan with is my business as well."

Sasuke glared angrily at her. "Hatsutori Kazuha," he bit out. "You recall my final mission before my appointment as Rokudaime. As noted in my report, I rested overnight at Akagusa to recover from mild chakra exhaustion. I met her there." The circumstances were real – only Hatsutori Kazuha was not. But Tsunade probably wouldn't pry.

"I see," Tsunade murmured. "Strange how you are so friendly with someone you met for such a short while, yet you ignore the hundreds of Konoha women practically falling at your feet. '

Sasuke bristled. He hadn't expected Tsunade to be this inquisitive, though he was positive Sakura would drill him later. "She helped clean my wounds and took care of me while I was there. I invited her here as a way to repay her kindness," he replied curtly. Thankfully, they were already on the stage, and two kunoichi on duty were showing them to the seats of honour. Tsunade made one last remark, quietly.

"I don't know why, but she reminds me of Naruto."

The brunet nearly froze at that, and managed to keep calm with an effort. He feigned an offended and angry tone instead. "Kazuha-san is nothing like that brash, loud, unpredictable usuratonkachi. Please do not make the mistake of confusing Kazuha-san for that idiot."

Tsunade merely looked at him with an unreadable expression, then looked ahead to the crowds and sighed slowly. Sasuke turned his attention to the ceremony, which had started while the two Hokage were talking. Soon it was Tsunade's turn to make a speech, followed by Sasuke. He stepped up to the podium and flawlessly delivered his memorized speech in his usual emotionless way. His eyes, however, roamed the mass of people until they settled on Naruto's disguised figure standing at the fringe of the crowd.

At the end of his speech, Tsunade came forward to stand beside him, and focusing their chakra, called out 'Kai!' in unison.

All around Konoha, and around the square they were in, sakura trees that were previously bare and ugly burst into colour and life as pale pink sakura blossoms sprouted on the branches, and sakura petals swirled in the air, reminding Sasuke of the pattern embroidered on the kimono Naruto was wearing. He searched the crow again and spotted her. She was watching the sakura petals twirl about her with a peaceful expression and a gentle smile that somehow had a tinge of sadness to it. She gracefully stretched out a hand and let a petal fall into it, then stared thoughtfully at the petal. The sad smile didn't leave her face.

Sasuke ignored the rapturous cheers of the crowd and shunshin-ed to her side.

"Kazhua-san," he called softly, so as not to startle her. Naruto turned her now-brown eyes to him and the sadness left her face as she smiled at him.

"Sasuke-san," she answered. Out of the corners of his eyes, Sasuke saw quite a few men eyeing her, and a surge of possessiveness sparked in him. He was so tempted to snake an arm around her waist and keep her close to his side to show just everyone just whose date 'Hatsutori Kazuha' was, and had to keep his twitching hands by his side.

"Shall we, Kazuha-san?" he said, making a sweeping gesture with one hand. Naruto nodded shyly and kept to his side as they walked along Konoha, admiring the beautiful sakura trees. His male ego was satisfied by the jealous looks the single male fraction of the Konoha population shot him. He had meant for 'Hatsutori Kazuha' to be an unremarkable, nondescript person, but somehow it didn't work. There was something about Naruto that attracted people to her, even when in disguise. Perhaps it was this 'something' that Tsunade somehow recognized.

Which reminded him. He slowly brought his head close to Naruto's and could see her tense almost imperceptibly.

"Tsunade knows about 'Hatsutori Kazuha'," he whispered. "She questioned me earlier, and I fed her our little story."

To her credit, Naruto didn't show any negative reaction, but pretended to nod and smile shyly, as if in response to something Sasuke had said. "How did she-?" she whispered back, then shook her head lightly. "Must be that darned crystal ball of Sandaime-ojisan's."

'Hn," Sasuke agreed. "We'll have to be more careful. But I want you to enjoy yourself, too." He felt foolish for saying such a sentimental thing, but was rewarded when Naruto lightly and quickly gripped his fingers with hers.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun!" a familiar voice called out behind them. Sasuke scowled inwardly and turned around.

"Sakura," he said. The pink-haired Chief Medic was walking up to them hand in hand with her fiancé.

"Who's this?" she asked with undisguised curiousity, and smiled cheerfully at Naruto. "Hi! I'm Haruno Sakura, and this is Hyuuga Neji, my fiancé. Hajimemashite!" She started to stretch out her hand, and Sasuke almost panicked until Naruto pretended not to see the hand and bowed respectfully.

"Hajimemashite. My name is Hatsutori Kazuha," she said in Kazuha's shy, polite voice. Sakura smiled and let her hand fall, and bowed in return.

"Hajimemashite. You're not from Konoha, are you, Hatsutori-san?" Neji asked from Sakura's side.

"You are right, Hyuuga-san. I am from Akagusa. Sasuke-san has done me the honour of inviting me to your lovely festival, which brings me here today."

_He'd better not turn on his Byakugan!_ Sasuke thought fervently.

"We were on our way to grab some lunch," Sakura informed Sasuke. "Join us? We'd love to get to know Hatsutori-san better."

Sasuke could easily read between the lines: you'd better come along coz I'm gonna give you and Hatsutori-san the third degree. He scowled at her. She grinned mischievously back at him, and Neji glared at him for scowling at Sakura. He ignored the Hyuuga.

"We were thinking of Ichiraku Ramen," she added, and Inner Sasuke deflated like a punctured balloon. He had wanted to take Naruto there, since he knew she missed eating there. He had wanted to take her there by _himself_ – just the two of them, but now it seemed that idea was out. He glared at Sakura, who shot him an amused look. She probably thought she was tempting him with Ichiraku Ramen, since they had been having lunch there every once in a while since Naruto had disappeared years ago. He absently wondered when she had grown immune to his glares. Neji glared back on her behalf, and Sasuke ignored him, as usual.

"Fine," he said shortly, and turned to Naruto. He knew his expression softened when he looked at her – he couldn't help it. "Shall we go for an early lunch, then, Kazuha-san?" he asked gently. Naruto looked up at him. Her expression was polite, but he could see her eyes had brightened, and were practically shining. She nodded demurely.

The four of them turned towards Ichiraku, and Sasuke felt Naruto give his hand a quick, excited squeeze, and nearly smiled at her hidden anticipation that was pretty obvious to him.

Sakura had fallen in step beside Naruto, and was chattering away to the blonde-turned-brunette. Neji strode beside Sakura, and Sasuke could tell he was listening carefully to Naruto's shy replies even if his expression was blank. It was the nature of shinobi to be curious and alert, after all.

They arrived at Ichiraku, and Sasuke knew Naruto was barely repressing a shit-eating grin by the way the corners of her lips twitched spasmodically. They ordered and ate, and Sasuke listened carefully as Naruto spontaneously told fictitious stories about Hatsutori Kazuha's fictitious life and childhood in Akagusa. He was grudgingly impressed at the way she came up with her stories and managed to keep track of them. Sasuke repressed a smile.

Naruto somehow managed to eat her ramen in a lady-like manner, and when she was done, shot Sasuke a pleading look. He could immediately tell what she wanted.

Inner Sasuke cackled evilly as Sasuke ordered another bowl of miso ramen – if he wasn't mistaken, miso was her favourite – and laced his fingers together as he waited for the food to arrive.

"Are you alright, Sasuke-kun?" came Sakura's voice. She sounded curious and a little concerned. He knew why – he had never ordered a second bowl of ramen before.

"I'm fine, Sakura," his reply was curt, as usual. He didn't turn to her, but he knew that she probably had on a thoughtful, calculative look.

"Good to know. I'll talk to you later, Sasuke-kun." Which, knowing Sakura, translated to "I'll be dropping by to interrogate you in the future."

Sasuke scowled inwardly but kept his face blank as Sakura stood up to leave together with Neji. He heard her bid goodbye to 'Kazuha', to which Naruto shyly replied in kind. She walked over to clap him on the shoulder and was off.

Beside him, Naruto released a loud breath.

"That was stressful," she said softly, bringing up both hands to massage her temples. "I thought she'd figure me out any time. And if Neji had used his Byakugan, that would have been it." Her fingers pressed circles into her skin for a minute as she closed her eyes.

"Man, I miss them," she whispered so softly Sasuke almost didn't catch it. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her to stay in Konoha, but he refrained. It would only have upset her – and by extension, him – and turn the date, which was turning out to be quite enjoyable, bad.

"Here you are! One miso ramen!" Teuchi said jovially as he placed the steaming bowl in front of Sasuke. He saw Naruto perk up immediately and turn to him. He pretended to ignore her and reached for a new pair of chopsticks, breaking them apart.

"Itadakimasu," he murmured, before calmly lifting out a few strands of the ramen and swallowing them. Inner Sasuke was grinning evilly. He turned and regarded Naruto nonchalantly as he chewed.

"Sasuke," she whined softly, giving him puppy-dog eyes. He merely raised an eyebrow as he repressed a smirk.

"Aw, Sasuke!" she whined again. This time he smirked as he caught up more noodles, raised them to his mouth and blew gently on them. Naruto made a disgruntled, pouting sound, and was turning away as Sasuke held out the noodles on the chopsticks to her.

"Here," he said, smirking at her. Her eyes widened a little and she moved as if she wanted to cross her arms sulkily before she probably remembered that she was Hatsutori Kazuha, a shy and lady-like woman who didn't have temper tantrums in public.

What could he say? He liked teasing her, and he found for some crazy reason he liked feeding her, too. Her expression softened as he continued feeding her, and soon a fond look settled on her face.

A bit of broth splashed onto her cheek. Sasuke put down the chopsticks and slowly used his thumb to wipe it off. She had tensed, but only mildly. He brought his thumb back and licked the broth off it, and in that moment, he knew.

He knew he cared deeply for her. he knew he wanted her by his side. He knew he wanted to keep her safe. He knew he'd kill for her. He wanted to feed her, and hold her close, and kiss her senseless.

He was pretty sure he was in love with Namikaze Naruto.

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**The Author has More to Say:** X3

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	12. Chapter 12

**The Author Says:** Hey, missed me? (dodges flying shoes and rotten vegetables and fruit with my crazzie ninja skillz). Yeah… thank you so much, those of you who reviewed. Know that I read all the reviews, even if I don't reply to them. And extra thanks and appreciation to those who don't urge me to update quickly. You know who you are, and I want to say thanks so much for understanding that I have a life outside of fanfiction. As much as I wish I could spend entire days just reading and writing fanfics, I do have to work, and let me tell you, work really saps my inspiration and motivation to write. So, enough rambling.

Extra note: A little mistake has been edited, thanks to **TasteLikeBlood**. Be sure to let me know if any of you spot any mistakes, k? :-)

U/L: 27th August 2008.

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**In That Moment**

by _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 12**

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He was pretty sure he was in love with Namikaze Naruto.

His tongue had frozen on the tip of his thumb while he had his little epiphany, so he retracted him and gave himself a little shake, and realized Naruto was staring at him with a strange expression – one he couldn't quite decipher.

He raised an eyebrow at her calmly, though his heart was racing. She merely shook her head lightly, so he continued feeding her the little ramen left in the bowl. She kept a small smile on her face, though, and it only served to get Sasuke's heart thumping again.

They finished up the ramen and Sasuke paid, and they left together. Naruto squeezed his hand again as they left, which he understood to be a gesture of thanks.

They strolled along the streets of Konoha. Sasuke itched to hold Naruto by the waist, or at least by the hand, but held himself back, knowing that she wouldn't really appreciate it. He walked by her side quietly. It was strange to think that Naruto wasn't chattering his ear off, yet it was a comfortable silence. Many stared openly at him; others did double-takes when they realized that he was walking with a woman by his side.

He led them towards a particular field where he knew the sakura were especially plentiful.

"Wow," Naruto breathed appreciatively once the field came into view. Sasuke smiled faintly and brought her to the far end of the field that was more secluded, and sat himself down in the grass. Naruto took a seat beside him. They sat silently – Naruto watching the blossoms on the tree and those swirling in the breeze, and Sasuke watching Naruto.

She drew her knees to her chest and circled her arms around them as she rested her chin on her kneecaps. Her expression slowly became thoughtful, and a little sad smile curved her lips, Sasuke noted. He didn't like the look, but just continued to observe her. They were in the shade of a sakura tree that Sasuke was leaning against.

Something struck him, and he quickly made a kage bunshin which disappeared with a shunshin no jutsu as soon as it appeared. Naruto turned to him and gave him a questioning look, to which he replied with a calm smirk. She wrinkled her nose playfully at him and went back to her thoughts, and he went back to his observations. He pushed himself downwards until he was lying on his side in the grass with one elbow propped up to support his head.

Sasuke closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. The scent of the sakura was heavy in the air – the scent of spring. He felt a hand slowly and timidly comb its fingers through his hair, and allowed it for a few moments before slowly opening his eyes to look at Naruto. Her face and eyes were strangely blank, but when she realized he was looking at her, she gave him a quiet smile and one last brush of her fingers, then returned to staring at the sakura, though to Sasuke, her eyes were a little unfocused.

They stayed like that for over an hour – not speaking, just enjoying each other's presence. For Sasuke, it was a real treasure to be able to spend time like this with Naruto. His heart grew heavy when he realized she might disappear again, and who knew how many months it would be before he got to see her again. He pushed the depressing thought out of his head, deciding to deal with that later.

Sometimes other people would wander close to where they were, but they took off quickly once they realized it was Sasuke lying in the grass. The entire village knew how much he valued his privacy, and no one wanted to try his short patience. He had been counting on his reputation to keep the people away from this little corner of the field.

A spike in chakra signaled the reappearance of his kage bunshin. The kage bunshin dropped something into Sasuke's waiting hand and dispelled itself.

Naruto, who had been absently watching families and couples walk, laugh and play further away in the field with that blank look on her face again, turned to him when his kage bunshin reappeared.

Sasuke sat up in the grass so that he was a little behind her. Very slowly, he took one end of the object his kage bunshin had given him into each hand and murmured, "Trust me."

Naruto immediately tensed as he lowered the object around the front of her throat, but started to relax once she realized what it was. He fastened it and moved so that he was sitting by her feet, facing her.

She picked up the pendant that was hanging off the fine white gold necklace and let it rest on her fingers as she brushed her thumb over its surface.

Sasuke waited for a few seconds until the breeze picked up again, and blew the sakura towards them. He shot out a hand and caught a sakura blossom. Carefully, he plucked two petals from the flower and took the pendant from Naruto, careful not to touch her and cause her haphephobia to flare up.

"It's a locket," he explained, suddenly feeling bashful and embarrassed as he ran a finger over the heart-shaped ruby in the white gold heart before opening it. Instead of opening from the side, it opened down the middle to reveal that the ruby was actually fastened to the back of the locket.

Inside the locket, he had had 'Uchiha Sasuke' 'engraved on one side, and on the other side, 'Namikaze Naruto'. He carefully placed each folded petal before placing one each in each half of the pendant and closing it to form a heart again. He let it fall from his fingers to rest on her kimono, admiring the stark contrast of the ruby on the white gold heart, and the gleaming white on the dark purple fabric.

"Just something to remind you of today," he said quietly, looking a t her with what he was sure was a slight blush on his face. "It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, and this was the best I could find on such short notice. "

Her face was oddly blank for a few seconds, and worry began to creep into Sasuke's heart, but then he realized her eyes were showing a maelstrom of emotions he couldn't start to distinguish or name.

"Thank you," she finally said. Her voice was thick. She reached over and gripped Sasuke's hands between her own, and squeezed firmly for a long moment before letting go. "Thank you."

xxXXxxXXxx

The plan was for 'Hatsutori Kazuha' to leave Konoha by about mid-afternoon, since she needed to get to the nearest village before dark, where she would spend the night before leaving for Akagusa in the morning. At least, that was the explanation that they had for 'Kazuha' leaving so early.

"Thank you, Sasuke-san, for a wonderful day," 'Kazuha' said, bowing to Sasuke. He smiled softly at her.

"It was my pleasure, Kazuha-san," he replied. "I wish you a safe journey. Do not hesitate to contact me if you are in need of anything."

'Kazuha' bowed again, smiled, and turned to walk out of the village. Once she was out of sight, Sasuke turned to glare icily at the two chuunin on guard duty. They were a new pair, not the earlier two, and had been gawking at Sasuke and 'Kazuha'.

He turned on his heel and strode towards his apartment, only stopping to buy dinner for two at a nice restaurant. Once the food was ready and packed, he continued home.

The moment he opened the door he could faintly sense her chakra signature, and to him it felt like he was really coming home. He closed the door behind him and set up the privacy seal, then called out, "Tadaima!"

Naruto bounced out of the kitchen with a grin on her face. All traces of 'Kazuha's' personality were gone, and Sasuke was glad. "Okaeri," she answered happily. He saw she had a cup of instant ramen in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in another. She was still clad in the purple kimono, but her brown hair had been let down, and it fell past her shoulders. Her contacts were out, so her eyes were their original, brilliant blue again. The locket was still around her neck.

"Tadaima," Sasuke whispered, liking the sound of the word and the implications it had. _I'm home._

Naruto gave him another grin and went back into the kitchen. Sasuke followed, and placed his bag of food on the table.

"Don't eat anymore," he told her. "You'll spoil your appetite."

A snort of disagreement and disbelief came from her, as if to say, 'Me? Spoil dinner?' Sasuke had to agree. Male or female, Naruto could really eat. He shot her an amused look.

"Fine then. Get changed when you're done with that," he said. "The things you need to remove your disguise are in the same bag in the bathroom. I'm sure you've noticed."

She nodded with her cheeks full of food and eyes squinted into upturned curves at him, and he smiled faintly. She finished her ramen quickly and drained the soup, then tossed the cup into the trash and headed for the bathroom.

"Dinner will be ready by the time you're out," he called after her, and went to his bedroom to change into a short yukata that came to mid-thigh, and a pair of long pants. He remembered his father used to dress this way around the house.

He adjusted the yukata and went back into the kitchen where he brought out a new tablecloth he had secretly bought a few days ago and spread it on his dining table. He also set two of the placemats that came with the tablecloth. Then he got out some china and silverware he had found when he had rummaged through his kitchen cabinets not too long ago. The apartment had been in move-in condition when it had been offered to him, but he had never bothered to check what he actually had in all the cupboards, cabinets and shelves. He set the china carefully, not too sure whether his arrangements were correct or not, but he had a feeling Naruto wouldn't know either, and thus wouldn't mind.

Flashing through a set of handseals, he created a kage bunshin that again disappeared using shunshin no jutsu after picking up a clear, cut-glass bowl. Then he retrieved a pair of candlesticks he had bought when he obtained the tablecloth. The candlesticks came with abeige candles that had sakura petals embedded in them. He set them on the table, unlit for now.

The bag containing the food he had bought earlier was sitting on a chair where he'd put it when he wanted to spread the tablecloth, so he picked up the boxes of food and stuck them in his microwave oven after checking that the boxes were microwaveable.

The kage bunshin reappeared with the bowl and dispelled itself just as the microwave dinged. Sasuke emptied the bowl carefully, then filled it with water till it was half-full, then carefully placed the sakura blossoms his kage bunshin had brought back onto the water so that they floated. He set the bowl between the candlesticks, then took the hot food from the microwave and paused. He glanced at the different dishes and bowls, shrugged, and ladles out the food into whichever piece of china struck his fancy.

Once he was done, he stashed the takeaway boxes and bag in a random cupboard, and washed his hands and face. As he dried his hands and face on a clean towel, he heard Naruto exit the bathroom, and then came the sound of his room door closing. He quickly formed some handseals, and with precise chakra control, blew out a small, narrow flame to light the candles. Just as he let go of the chakra he'd moulded to end the jutsu, footsteps sounded and paused at the kitchen door.

"Talk about handy jutsu," Naruto said, grinning in amusement. She was dressed in her usual mesh t-shirt, orange tank top and black shinobi pants. The necklace he had given her earlier hung around her neck, and the white gold pendant with its ruby heart sparkled in the candlelight. Her other necklace that had an unusual blue-green stone, Sasuke remembered, was tucked into the orange tank top.

As he observed her, Naruto's eyes widened, and she looked touched as she took in the fruit of his efforts. Her grin mellowed into a sweet smile.

"Sasuke, she murmured as she approached the table. The corners of his lips curved upwards and his eyes an expression softened. He went around the table and pulled out a chair for her, and bowed her into the chair, twirling his hand in an exaggeratedly courteous manner. She giggled as he pushed the chair in, and he smiled.

"Give me a moment," he murmured, and hurriedly set about making tea. He filled a kettle with water and set it on the stove, then dug around for a set of teacups and a teapot, rinsed them, placed a teacup each at Naruto's place and his own, then put a teabag into the teapot. The water was taking too long to boil, so he quickly used a scaled-down Katon jutsu to boil the water. He heard Naruto laugh softly behind him at that. He whipped the kettle off the stove, poured the water into the teapot and put the teapot on the dining table before finally sitting down and grinning a little bashfully at Naruto, who answered with a small smile of her own.

As they ate, they chatted and even laughed (Sasuke was a little surprised at himself) about Team 7 days and the people they knew. Akatsuki, Naruto's return to Konoha and other such melancholic topics were mutually avoided by them. Sasuke loved watching Naruto smile and laugh. He loved the way the candlelight flickered and caused Naruto's hair to shine and look like spun gold. He loved the way her eyes twinkled mischievously at times and turned into little crescents when she smile or grinned extra wide, and most of all he loved how uniquely blue they were. But then again, he was sure he wouldn't care if her eyes were any other colour, so long as they were Namikaze Naruto's eyes, and they were looking at him, because he was helplessly in love with Namikaze Naruto.

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**The Author has More to Say:** Yup, a chapter of fluff. Those of you who read my other fic, I Think I, will know that I said I want to focus more on this fic coz it's almost done. I predict I'll end it on between chapters 18 and 20. So as you can see, the end is near (lol), and I want to finish it. I think it's high time I finished it :-p

So… I'm sure most of you have heard of the superstitions about the number 13? Guess which chapter is next? (duh). Nihihihihi! XD

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	13. Chapter 13

**The Author Says:** Here it is… chapter 13! ;-) Nihihihi…!!

I'm updating again! Does this mean that I've finished writing In That Moment? …yes! Haha. Well, sort of. I've the epilogue left to write :-). And yes, to those who have been waiting (understatement) for I Think I, I will be going back to writing that fic. But I cannot promise regular updates for either fic, because I have ideas for new fics rattling around in my brain, and I plan to try writing a new fic or two, which may or may not work out. We'll see :-)

To those reading ITI, and even to those who don't read it, **Phoenix Soar** has written a brilliant, brilliant 'what if' fic based on I Think I. It's called **_Recollections and Revelations_**. You really have to read it, because it's wonderfully written and beautifully characterized, and I _absolutely_ _love_ it! Read it and review!

**U/L:** 31st December 2008. Last update of 2008! ;-)

* * *

**In That Moment**

by _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 13**

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Sasuke exited the Hokage Tower and shoved his hands into his pockets, and looked up at the sky. The stars were blinking and the air was cool. With a deep breath, he started to walk home.

It was quite dark, so he allowed a small smile to creep onto his face as he thought of her.

He had enjoyed dinner with her very much. He loved watching her smile and laugh and talk to him across the table. His house didn't feel so lonely when she was around – it felt more like a home.

He had wanted to tell her how he felt about her, but she had had to rush off right after dinner, and the words got stuck in his throat, and a slight blush got stuck on his face. She had raised an eyebrow, looking curiously at him embarrassing himself trying to get the words out, but then a fierce blush coloured her cheeks, and quick as a flash, she'd leaned towards him, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and disappeared before he could recover from his shock.

His eyes had gone wide and a goofy smile had stretched his lips. His hand had covered his cheek where he'd been kissed, and he had stood rooted to the spot for a solid minute, grinning at nothing like an idiot. He was pretty sure he had been grinning in his sleep, too.

As he relieved the memory while walking home in the dark of night, his hand strayed to the spot where she'd kissed him, and he grinned.

His good mood had persisted for almost two weeks, and even now, a month and a half after she'd kissed him and disappeared, he realized he was still a little high on being in love.

He had been in such unusually good spirits that at first, almost everyone he came across stopped and stared at him in curious amazement. It must have been some aura he had been emitting, because although he was being a _little_ nicer than he usually was, he still wasn't exactly smiling at anyone, yet people seemed to have lost some of the fear they'd had of him. Sakura had cornered him after one week, dragged him to Ichiraku's for lunch and asked him point-blank whether he'd gotten laid. He had been thinking of Naruto when she'd suddenly asked him that, and he had nearly choked on the noodles he'd been eating. When he'd recovered, he had given her the fiercest glare he had in his arsenal. She had dropped the topic, but he still caught her staring at him with a assessing look every now and then. Even Tsunade was giving him strange looks in the office.

He wondered what their reactions would be if they were to learn that it was because Uchiha Sasuke had fallen head over heels in love with Namikaze Naruto.

Sasuke sighed as he approached his apartment block. He missed her badly, and what really worried him was how he was going to persuade her to stay in Konoha. He had given the issue much thought, but what he couldn't quite figure out was why she joined the Akatsuki and didn't want to come back. What had made her give up her dream of becoming Hokage? Uzumaki Naruto had been the No.1 Unpredictable Ninja, and Namikaze Naruto, it seemed, wasn't any different in that respect.

As Sasuke opened his apartment's front door, his heart gave a leap, then started racing – he sensed that wonderfully familiar chakra. An eager smile lifted the corners of his lips and he quickly entered, kicking off his shoes and shut the door behind him before casting a privacy seal.

She was comfortably slouched in his armchair, facing away from the door. Sasuke quickly strode around the chair to face her.

"Naruto," he started to say, but trailed off as he noticed her face. Her eyes were cold and hard, and her expression blank. It made his stomach twist uncomfortably and reminded him of the first time he'd caught her – in the Hokage's library. All the cheerfulness and mischievousness seemed to be gone; wiped off her face, and the life and sparkle in her eyes had hardened to the guarded, unemotional state he remembered seeing that first time they had interrogated her. Worried, he crouched down by her side and looked up at her. He squeezed her arm gently and briefly, and felt her flinch.

"Naruto, is something wrong? Did something happen?" he asked concernedly.

She ran a hand through her bangs and smiled at him. It was an empty smile that left him feeling more uneasy than reassured. "Nothing; nothing at all," she replied in a faux-cheerful voice.

Sasuke stared at her for a moment, but she just plastered in that hollow smile onto her face. He thought about what he had been wanting to tell her and felt apprehensive – more so, now that she was acting so strangely. He swallowed and steeled himself.

"Naruto," he said slowly, looking her in the eye. He wanted to hold her hand, but felt that she wouldn't tolerate it. "I have something to say to you." He took a deep breath, but she just looked at him with a bored expression.

"I'm in love with you," he said clearly. "I love you, Naruto."

Her eyes widened and she brought a hand to touch her throat that was covered by the cloak. Her jaw went slack, then it opened and closed a few times, like she didn't know what to say. Perhaps she was overcome by her emotions? Sasuke took heart.

"You, in _love_ with _me_?" she asked breathlessly, and Sasuke smiled with relief and nodded.

Then her eyes hardened and her lips twisted into a mocking sneer, and she laughed coldly. The sound sent an unpleasant tingle down Sasuke's spine. He stared at her apprehensively.

"Naru--"

Her eyes flashed with cruel amusement as she cut him off. "Yare yare. Who would have thought? Uchiha Sasuke is in love with the idiot; the hated of Konoha; the monster." She snorted and sneered at him. Her eyes were an icy blue.

Nervousness and worry clawed at Sasuke's innards. "Naruto--? What--? This isn't like you at all!"

Naruto chuckled darkly at that. "Not like me at all?" she repeated sarcastically. "Do you really know me, Uchiha Sasuke?" she spat.

Sasuke was really taken aback, and stared at her, frozen to the spot. She laughed again; an unpleasant sound that grated on Sasuke's ears – so unlike the laugh he was used to. She leaned down and brought her face close to his; so close he could feel her warm breath across his skin. Her finger pushed up his chin so that he was looking at her directly in the eyes. Her lips curved into a cruel, mocking smile.

"Who would have thought," she said again. "Who would have thought that all it took for Uchiha Sasuke to fall in love was one kiss on the cheek." The fingertips of her other hand caressed the pot where she'd kissed him in a mockingly tender way. "What if I were to kiss you on the other cheek as well? Would you do everything I command? And if I were to kiss you on the lips?" Her thumb gently massaged his lips, and she tilted her head so close that they were almost kissing. Sasuke's heart started pounding in spite of himself. "Would you follow me to the ends of the earth?"

Her icy blue gaze bore into his eyes, and for a moment he froze. Then, giving himself a mental slap, he narrowed his eyes and slapped her hand away. She pulled her hand back to her chest with a look of exaggerated hurt, then laughed.

Sasuke stood up and glared at her. "I don't know what you're trying to do, Naruto. This isn't the Naruto I know." He stood in front of her, put his hands on the armrests of the chair and leaned down. "Stop it, Naruto. I love you. I really do. I want you to be by my side; I want to wake up with you, take care of you, feed you, protect you. I'm being really sincere," his throat constricted, "you know it isn't easy for me to say these kinds of things, but I love you, Naruto." His voice was pleading.

She lazily raised an eyebrow. "Feed me? Protect me?" she sneered as he straightened and walked a few steps to the side, trying to ward away the hurt he felt. She stood up and walked to face him. "This, from the man who wanted to kill me eight years ago, from the man who put his hand through my lung, the man who nearly drove his sword through my chest." She placed one finger on his chest and pushed. Her upper lip curled. "This, from the man who can't even manage to hunt down and kill his brother to avenge his clan." She paused, and his fingers curled into trembling fists. "I think I'd rather not have your so-called protection, Uchiha Sasuke."

She laughed and ambled into the kitchen, switching on the light and walking around his table, letting her fingers trail lightly on the wood and the chair she used to occupy when she came. Her fingers left her chair and touched the one he'd occupy when she'd come around, and then she leaned against the counter behind his chair with a nonchalant air.

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut and his nails bit into his palms; this was nothing like how he'd imagine it would go. What she had said had really, really cut deep. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, and strode into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry about what happened years ago," he said, placing his palms on the dining table and leaning down. "Let me make it up to you for the rest of your life. Let me love you, Naruto." He never thought he'd ever want someone to love him again; he never thought he'd ever open his heart to anyone every again, much less this particular person. He'd never thought he'd love someone so much that he'd plead for them to allow him to love them.

_I thought you had feelings for me, too, _Sasuke thought as he took a deep breath to keep himself level-headed.

She looked up at him, frowning deeply. "It's just so easy for you to dismiss what happened with a simple' sorry', isn't it, Sasuke?"

He groaned in frustration. "What would you have me do, then? I'm not taking your forgiveness for granted, but I thought with all the effort you put into dragging me back all those years ago, you could maybe find it in your heart to forgive me when I finally, sincerely ask for it. What do I have to do so that you'll forgive me? Tell, me, Naruto!"

She glanced at him and walked out of the kitchen. "It doesn't matter now," she said as she passed him. He resisted the urge to grab her and sit her down.

Sasuke pounded on the table with a fist and followed her out. "Then what does?" he growled as he walked into his bedroom, where he found her sitting on his bed where she'd always sit when she stayed the night. "I tell you that I love you and you throw it back in my face! What's going on, Naruto? Please," he knelt on one knee and grabbed one of her hands and held it to his cheek, "please, tell me, Naruto."

She stared at him coldly. "Let go of my hand, Uchiha."

He reluctantly let go and stood up. He felt as if a vice had closed around his heart and was squeezing slowly and painfully. He raised a hand over his forehead and bangs, pushing back his hair and clutching at it. Everything was going horribly. He had been sure that she had feelings for him too; otherwise she wouldn't have kissed him that night, right?

"Don't you get it, Uchiha?" she said slowly. "I've been playing you all along. You fell for it like the idiot everyone says _I_ am." She laughed unpleasantly. "I've gotten what I wanted, and made you _fall in love_ with me at the same time." She said those three words as if they tickled her.

Sasuke's black eyes flashed angrily even as he felt the vice around his heart tighten. "I don't believe you. Uzumaki Naruto is not this cruel, and I cannot believe Namikaze Naruto would be any different."

Naruto looked up at him with a pitying smile. She clucked her tongue and shook her head. "That's what I keep telling you! Do you really know me, Uchiha?" she said in a mock-patient tone. "Uzumaki Naruto would never turn his back on his village." She lifted her bangs away from her hitai-ate. "Let me tell you – I put this scratch in myself." She gestured with her thumb at the scored metal plate and let her hair cover the hitai-ate again, and unbuttoned the first two buttons of her cloak. "This should tell you how what I think of your feelings, Uchiha." The high collar fell sideways to expose her throat, and immediately Sasuke noticed the necklace he had given her was gone. Only the other necklace with the blue-green stone hung around her neck.

He closed his eyes slowly.

"That's right, Uchiha." He looked at her with a pained expression, and she smirked at him. "I got rid of that cheap piece of crap the moment I was out of Konoha. If you want it back you can go search the forest outside the gate. You just might find it if someone hasn't picked it up yet."

The vice around his heart squeezed until he couldn't bear it.

"Naruto," he said softly, angrily. "Shut up."

She had the gall to chuckle. He glared at her, though he felt as if a hole had been punched through his chest. Was this how Naruto had felt when he hit her with his chidori? The utter, crushing disappointment dropped into his stomach like a doton jutsu. His eyes flashed angrily.

"I don't know what you're trying to do. If you want to hurt me, you've done it. If you want me to hate you, well, you're well on your way to accomplishing that."

She didn't look fazed at all, she only smirked at him. He looked coldly at her.

"Well," she said, and got to her feet. "As fun as this has been, I've got to go."

"That's right, you are the one doing the leaving now, aren't you," Sasuke muttered bitterly. "I should never have let you back into my life."

"We all do things we regret," she told him airily. "I'm sure you'll get over it soon enough." She leered at him. "What, no goodbye kiss? I kissed you the last time – it's only fair that you kiss me now."

He glared at her, trembling in anger. "Don't push it, Naruto," he hissed in a low, dangerous tone. A myriad of emotions whirled in her suddenly expressive blue eyes, and without warning, she caught his face between her hands and kissed him sloppily but passionately on the lips.

Caught by surprise, he froze to the spot and his eyes widened. Her tongue licked at his lips and sent a shiver through him that jolted him to his senses, and he slapped her and moved away from her with a disgusted look on his face.

"Get out of my house before I do something I'll regret," he snarled with his eyes narrowed.

She licked her lips and ignored the reddening spot on her cheek where he'd slapped her. He repressed the flinch that was threatening to show at the sight of the handprint on her face; his handiwork. She brushed imaginary dirt from her cloak before smoothening down its folds. Her movements were slow, almost as if she were reluctant to leave. He watched her, feeling a strange urge to wrap his arms around her despite the anger that was burning in his veins. He wanted to bury his face in her neck and kiss the red splotch on her face despite the pain he felt in his chest. Pain she'd put there, he reminded himself.

"Goodbye, Uchiha Sasuke," she said, giving him an empty grin. She formed a few handseals, and Sasuke had to stop himself from stopping her. With a last glance from those blue eyes he loved so much, she disappeared.

Sasuke closed his eyes and groaned deep in his chest, clutching at his hair. He felt like crying and wailing, yet not one sob escaped his lips. A few hot tears dripped down his face, and he sank to the floor with his back resting against the bed. His heart hurt so bad that one hand clawed desperately at it, wanting to rip it out of his chest. His jaw lowered in a silent scream; no sound would come out. He had fallen so hard for her, and now it hurt so much.

He rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face in palms. He stayed that way the whole night.

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**The Author has More to Say:** The End! Nihihihihi! ………Nah. I'm not _that_ evil. XD Happy New Year! Viva 2009!

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	14. Chapter 14

**The Author Says:** Thank you for all the reviews! It's so great to know you guys haven't forgotten about this fic! Heheh. Hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well :-) oh, and please leave a signed review if you would like me to answer. Thanks, Velo, for such a nice review! I hope you leave a signed review if you were to review again, so i can blab to my heart's content in my reply XD

U/L: 9th January 2009

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**In That Moment**

by _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 14**

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It was nearly midnight, but Sasuke felt no urge to go home. It seemed ages ago that he'd eagerly look forward to going home with hopes that _she_ would be there. His heart squeezed painfully at the thought of _her_.

Three days, and he still couldn't get her out of his head; still couldn't hate her. His heart was broken, but every traitorous piece still loved her.

He had been so depressed but he couldn't skip work, not with Tsunade on a week's vacation, and would be returning to work only tomorrow. He didn't want to stay at home, anyway. Everywhere in his apartment there were reminders of her – in his living room, kitchen, bathroom, and especially in his bedroom. There was no where he could look and not think of her.

Sasuke was one miserable bastard.

So he had gone to work as usual, where his subordinates had given him one frightened glance and scuttled out of his way. He knew that for all the lack of expression on his face, he was emitting a depressed and dangerous aura, one that was a total opposite from the one surrounding him just a few days ago. He put all his concentration into work, but in the short idle time he had between workloads, he couldn't stop thinking of her, of the morning he woke up beside her, of the date, of the dinner, and of the way she kissed him – almost desperately – three nights ago.

Even now his fingers strayed to his lips, touching where her lips had been.

Kakashi had stopped by yesterday. The silver-haired jounin could be observant when he wanted to be, and had noticed Sasuke's obvious 'stay-away-from-me-I-don't-want-to-talk-about-it' look. He had just stared intensely at Sasuke for a few moments, to which Sasuke had replied with a glare, then had gripped the brunet's shoulder encouragingly and silently before whipping out his book and hopping out the window of Sasuke's office. It left Sasuke more worried than comforted; it made him wonder if Kakashi knew the real reason behind his depression. Despite all the things she'd said three nights ago, he didn't want to get her into trouble; at least not before he'd figured out a way to keep her out of prison in Konoha – were she to get caught.

The indecision was driving him nuts – should he or should he not just abandon everything and go looking for her? Something somewhere didn't fit, he knew instinctively. But a part of him – his pride – tried hard to hold him back. Why should he go look for her after all she'd said? And even if he really decided on going to look for her, he'd have to either momentarily abandon his duty as Rokudaime – which the Council would view as a breach of the contract that kept her out of the Missing Nin List – or he'd have to do it according to protocol by submitting paperwork. But the problem with that was that people would find out and questions, and probably tempers, would arise. What had she been doing in Konoha? What had she been doing in the Rokudaime's apartment? Had she really come into Konoha in disguise on the Festival day? What do you mean it had been the Rokudaime's idea? She might have been after sensitive information! Why hadn't he reported her? She'd probably be in more trouble that way than having her name on the Konoha Missing Nin List.

He threw his pen down, gripped his hair and groaned as he leaned back in his chair. Today he just couldn't get her words out of his mind. Every word played over and over again in his head as he tried to search for a clue as to her behaviour. He just couldn't bring himself to believe that she was really that cruel. He considered himself as a competent judge of behaviour, and he was pretty darn certain she hadn't been faking it when they had been on that date, or during the dinner after the date, or even the nights before that.

He closed his eyes and raked a hand through his hair. Her words ran through his head.

_Do you really know me, Uchiha Sasuke?_

_This, from the man who can't even manage to hunt down and kill his brother to avenge his clan._

A quiet knock sounded on his office door. From the chakra signature, he could tell it was Sakura. He sighed silently. He knew that she'd be by soon to grill him about his recent mood, and had been avoiding her as much as possible, but he also knew that he had merely been delaying the inevitable. Inner Sasuke, who since _that_ night had been sitting in the dark, face to a corner, brooding and sulking, grumbled under his breath at Sakura's arrival.

The door creaked open and Sakura's pink-haired head glanced in.

"Sasuke-kun?" she called gently. He ignored her, but knew it wouldn't do much good, and was proven right when she came in and stood by his side. She put her hand on his forehead to test his temperature, but he knocked it away.

"Go away, Sakura," he growled. She snorted and sat herself on the edge of his desk, facing him.

"Please don't lock yourself away like this Sasuke-kun. We've already lost you once, and now we've lost Naruto." She didn't notice the slight flinch he hadn't been able to repress. "I don't want to lose you again." She paused. "You need to talk to someone – you'll feel a lot better."

"Go away, Sakura," he repeated in a lower growl.

She chuckled lightly. "Nope. It isn't good for you to mope for so long. It's not like you… no, wait. It _is_ like you, you broody bastard." He could practically hear the grin on her face wilt as the humour fell flat. She sobered. "But you've cut yourself off from us since the time you came back and Naruto disappeared," she continued quietly. "It's not healthy to be alone all the time. We're here for you, Sasuke-kun even if you don't want to talk about it."

With his eyes still closed he swivelled his chair around so that he was facing the windows of his office rather than the pink-haired woman, but knew better than to think that Sakura would take the hint. Again he was proven right.

Sakura sighed meditatively. "I won't push you. But you seemed to be happier after Naruto reappeared. And you were practically smiling when Kazuha-san came to the Festival Opening day, and after that you were the happiest and most relaxed I've ever seen you, Sasuke-kun. And now... seeing you so down upsets me as well."

Sasuke scowled, and imagined his reflection in the glass scowling back at him. He sighed and rubbed his temples with one hand.

_I've been playing you all along._

He frowned as her voice kept playing in his head.

_And if I were to kiss you on the lips?_ His fingers strayed to his lips where she'd kissed him passionately before disappearing. _Would you follow me to the ends of the earth?_

_I've gotten what I wanted, and made you _fall in love_ with me at the same time._

Fall he did. He fell so hard and now it hurt so bad. A heavy, constricting feeling in his chest that he'd been feeling on and off (more on than off) started to re-settle in when suddenly something struck him.

_I've gotten what I wanted,_ she had said, and a sliver of worry shot into his mind. _What did she want?_ he asked himself. Then his eyes shot wide open.

Without a word, he jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room, ignoring Sakura's startled "Sasuke-kun?". He rushed into the Hokage's library and frantically searched the shelves once, twice, and was tempted to search a third time, but he knew it wouldn't do any good. He squeezed his eyes shut and let loose a low growl of frustration, gripping the nearest shelf until the wood bit painfully into his skin. He scowled fiercely and punched the wall so hard that cracks spider-webbed out around the imprint of his knuckles even as his knees went weak. Forcing himself to stand, he clenched his fists and walked reluctantly back to his office, trying to breathe with the way his chest constricted with worry.

His mind was whirling, thinking of all the possibilities and scenarios that could arise due to the fact that _it_ was missing, and what steps he could take to rectify the problem. He was so worried and lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize he was back in his office, and Sakura was gripping his arm.

"Sasuke-kun?" she was asking in a concerned and faintly alarmed tone. "What happened, Sasuke-kun?"

"The Forbidden Scroll is gone," he answered in a low, almost dazed voice.

Sakura looked at him quizzically. "Forbidden Scroll...?"

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly, feeling the blood pound at his temples. He had to force his voice past the tightness in his throat. "The Forbidden Scroll is gone," he croaked. "The one containing the seal the Yondaime used to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto; the one Naruto had been after."

Sakura's eyes widened in alarm, and her hand flew to her mouth. "Only… only the Akatsuki is interested in that! That means Naruto… Naruto…!"

The Rokudaime was silent, but his face was drawn and his eyes dark with worry. Sakura stared unseeingly at him. Her mouth was moving, but no words were coming out.

Suddenly, Sasuke sensed a very faint chakra signature tickling his senses and he immediately stiffened, and his Sharingan blazed. A low growl erupted from his throat as he let a kunai fly from his fingers to land a few millimeters beside the dark, shadowy form of a raven that was just taking shape on the corner of his desk. Before his eyes, the raven formed, then quickly morphed into the shape of a man wearing a high-collared cloak.

"Uchiha Itachi," Sasuke growled in a voice thick with hatred and contempt. Beside him, he knew Sakura had tensed in anticipation, and sensed her starting to mould chakra. He glared icily at the older man in front of them. "You have a lot of nerve coming here. What have you done to Naruto?"

"Otouto," Itachi replied with a trace of weariness in his usually bland voice. "Now is not the time to fight me. Naruto-kun is in danger."

A subconscious part of Sasuke noted that Itachi sounded a little worried, but rage boiled in his veins, and his hands crackled with the electric chakra of a chidori. In a flash, he had his hand piercing the air right where Itachi had been not a half-second ago. He whirled around and let his chakra blade shoot out to where Itachi had ducked. The Akatsuki member barely managed to evade again, and had to twist out of range of Sakura's chakra-charged fists.

"Now is not the time, otouto!" Itachi said again, a little desperately, as he jumped back from the combined attack of two furious ninja. "Naruto-kun is in danger!"

"And you're the one who put her in danger, bastard!" Sakura shouted, missing Itachi and landing her fist in the wall instead, which cracked and crumbled at the power of her punch.

Sasuke didn't pause in his furious attacks, and neither did Sakura, even though he realized that Itachi was merely dodging and not attacking back. The Rokudaime's office was turning into a warzone. "Stay out of this, Sakura," he hissed as he swerved past her while trying to sweep Itachi's legs out under him. Out of the corner of his eyes he noted the arrival of several squads of ANBU, some of whom he could feel rather than see. They surrounded the office – outside the door and on the outside of the windows – but didn't interfere.

"In your dreams, Uchiha!" Sakura shouted back to be heard above the crashing of Sasuke's desk, which she'd just splintered. "Naruto's my friend, too!"

"Sasuke! Stop this and listen!" Itachi raised his voice a little to be head over the crashes of broken furniture and crackles of chakra. "Don't make me use Tsukiyomi on you! Naruto-kun needs our help!"

The younger Uchiha glared heatedly at him. "Why aren't you going all out, Itachi?" Sasuke spat, his Sharingan whirling furiously. "Don't you dare speak of Naruto! You and your bunch of crazies are the ones who put her in danger in the first place! I'm going to defeat you, then you're going to tell me where she is, then I'm going to kill you!"

Sakura ducked under Sasuke's fist. "Chatty all of a sudden, aren't you," she muttered loud enough for Sasuke to hear. He ignored her and let loose a frustrated cry of rage, echoed in his mind by Inner Sasuke, and flashed through the seals for a Katon jutsu. He inhaled and was about to blow when a loud, angry voice yelled, "What's going on here?"

Sasuke nearly choked on the breath he was holding and felt his throat burn a little as he coughed up some smoke. His head swivelled towards the direction the voice was coming from once he saw that Itachi had straightened with obvious respect and submission once the voice spoke.

Tsunade was standing in what was left of the door, half-blocked by two ANBU who'd pathetically tried to hold her back. Her hands were on her hips and she was glaring furiously at the three ninja inside what was once the Rokudaime's office. When her gaze landed on Itachi, Sasuke saw her brown eyes widen, then narrow, and she stiffened.

"What are you doing here, Uchiha Itachi?" she asked sneeringly in a low, dangerous tone.

To everyone's surprise, Itachi bowed quickly. "Godaime-sama," he said hurriedly but respectfully. "ANBU 484 reporting. Mission 25272."

Tsunade blinked owlishly before something seemed to click and her eyes widened a fraction. Her expression hardened. "The will of fire has been passed on," she said clearly, and looked expectantly at Itachi, ignoring Sakura's confused look and Sasuke's own narrowed eyes and tightly-clenched fists.

"Junko screamed his name as he pounded her into the mattress," Itachi replied succinctly and with a perfectly straight and serious face, looking Tsunade in the eye. Sasuke blinked, Inner Sasuke gaped and Sakura's jaw dropped.

"That's a line from Icha Icha!" Sakura exclaimed to no one in particular. Tsunade raised her eyebrows at her apprentice, then rolled her eyes. Sakura blushed.

"That's what happens when your sensei reads perverted books that your teammate writes," Tsunade muttered. She shook her head and looked at Itachi again. She clenched her jaw tightly before continuing, "So it was you…"

Itachi nodded briefly. He said, "Godaime-sama, I claim emergency."

Sasuke couldn't take it. "What's going on?" he demanded angrily, and beside him Sakura nodded dumbly in agreement.

"No time to explain, Uchiha," Tsunade replied without turning to Sasuke. "Uchiha, what's the emergency?" she asked Itachi. "Would it have anything to do with this?" She lifted her hand, and the Shodai's necklace dangled from two fingers.

Sakura gasped. "That's… that's Naruto's!"

Tsunade nodded grimly, and Sasuke felt like a ball of lead had just dropped into his stomach. "I found it on my desk just minutes ago before you three decided to remodel Uchiha's office. There was a note saying 'Looks like it wasn't meant to be. Sorry, obaachan.' Only one person dares called me that."

"Naruto," Sakura said in a tight voice. Sasuke clenched his fists.

Tsunade nodded. Sasuke could tell she was worried. "What's the emergency, Uchiha?"

Itachi's eyes flashed briefly before returning to their emotionless state, and though Sasuke hadn't seen him in such a long time, he realized he could still remember the tell-tale signs that meant Itachi was worried, and he could see them now.

"Naruto-kun is in danger," he said quickly. "She brought the Forbidden Scroll to the Leader three days ago, and Leader plans to begin extraction tomorrow. I cannot retrieve Naruto-kun without placing both of ourselves in danger, as I cannot predict how Naruto-kun would act, and on my own I'm no match for _all_ the remaining members of the Akatsuki at once, reduced as they may be."

Sasuke's eyes had slipped closed during Itachi's explanation and were now squeezed shut. His clenched fists trembled and his stomach twisted with worry for Naruto. What had she been thinking! To actually make a gift of the Scroll to her would-be murderer?! But Naruto wouldn't really put the Kyuubi at the Akatsuki's disposal just like that, would she? Inner Sasuke pulled at his imaginary hair in anxiety. Something wasn't adding up! He just couldn't believe that Naruto would do that, despite the way she had acted three nights ago; despite the facts staring him in the face right now.

"Sakura," he said in a low, authoritative voice. Sakura immediately recognized that tone and snapped to attention.

"Rokudaime-sama!" was the brisk reply.

"Gather whomever of the Konoha 11 still in the village. Have them equipped and ready at the main gate in fifteen minutes," he ordered, and Sakura nodded.

"Hai!" She shunshin-ed out of the room. Sasuke formed a quick series of handseals, and an ANBU appeared in front of him and dropped onto one knee.

"Get squads 7, 11 and 12 equipped and ready to go – main gate, fifteen minutes."

"Hai!" the ANBU member responded, and disappeared. Sasuke took a shuddering breath and turned to the other brunet, his eyes icy.

"I don't trust you," he said bluntly, and in a cold tone. "And there's something going on here that I've obviously been left out of, and I'm going to get the truth out of you later. But Naruto comes first."

Itachi nodded, keeping his eyes on Sasuke's.

"Jiraiya went to Amegakure yesterday," Tsunade said worriedly, not particularly speaking to either brother, but Itachi turned to her. "He said he was going to gather information on the Akatsuki leader…"

"A grave mistake, Godaime-sama," Itachi told her, his eyes narrowing. "Pain – the Akatsuki leader – causes rain to continuously fall in Amegakure so that any foreign chakra entering it illegally is detected at once."

Tsunade's brows furrowed in worry. "That old idiot…"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed in determination. "No time to waste," he said. "We need to get both idiots back. Meet at the gate. Sakura should have Naruto's friends there by now."

Itachi nodded, as did Tsunade. "I'm coming along," Tsunade said in a voice that invited no arguments. "No question about it. If anyone were to stay behind, it should be the Rokudaime. But I know without a doubt nothing could keep you here while Naruto's in danger out there. It's the same for me – I have _two_ idiots to worry about."

The Rokudaime didn't look happy since he had been about to ask her to stay. But he knew she was right. Konoha could easily appoint another Hokage, but if they didn't send their best now, there wouldn't be a Konoha left to defend if the Akatsuki had their way. He frowned but nodded, then summoned another ANBU member.

"Rokudaime-sama!" The ninja appeared on one knee in front of Sasuke.

"The Godaime and I are heading out on a top-secret emergency mission. Tell the ANBU Commander to assume leadership until we return. Failing that, command goes to Hatake Kakashi should he return. If none of us returns, the Commander is to assume complete leadership pending the appointment of the next Hokage," Sasuke commanded. The man nodded curtly and disappeared.

Sasuke nodded at Tsunade and Itachi, and shunshin-ed to the main gate. As he appeared, Itachi and Tsunade appeared not a second later.

Sasuke nodded briefly at the group that was gathered in front of him in the pale moonlight. Itachi stepped beside him and he could feel the spikes in killing intent when the dim light revealed the man's face, but no one moved. Sakura had probably prepared them for his presence.

"I'll briefly inform you of the situation: the Akatsuki has Naruto, and they have the Forbidden Scroll. Our intel has it that they will begin the bijuu tomorrow. And we've recently learned that Jiraiya is in Amegakure as well, and is potentially in danger." Sasuke looked out at the group of grim faces. Hyuuga Neji and Hinata, Inuzuka, Tenten, Rock Lee and Maito Gai, Nara and 12-animal-masked faces. Naruto's trio of younger friends – the Sandaime's grandson and his two friends – were there as well. Kakashi stood next to Sakura and a black-haired man Sakura called Yamato-taichou, whose name (according to his file) was Tenzou.

"Our main objective is to get Naruto, Jiraiya and the Forbidden Scroll. Hyuuga Hinata will locate and retrieve the Scroll. Inuzuka and Tsunade-sama will locate and retrieve Jiraiya. Kakashi and Yamato will locate and retrieve Naruto. The rest will run interference and distraction. Combat is inevitable, but as soon as targets are secured, the retrievers will meet at the Konoha outpost at the Konoha-Ame border. The rest will leave after targets have safely been removed and regroup at the designated outpost. If you manage to take down an Akatsuki member – all the better, but stay alive. You will be needed in dealing with the repercussions of this mission." He didn't ask if anyone wanted to back out – it would have been a useless question. He nodded once.

"Alright. Itachi will take point. Tsunade-sama, Sakura, Kakashi, Yamato and Gai will take rear. Double-file formation. Offensive specialists in front, defensive middle." Sasuke's face set in a hard, determined expression. "We're getting Naruto back. Move out!"

* * *

**Glossary-of-sorts:**

- Otouto: little brother.

- Tsukiyomi: World of the Grasping Moon, according to the scanlated manga I read. It's Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan jutsu where he sucks the person consciousness into another reality where time and space are under his control.

- Katon: Fire Element. Signature element of the Uchiha.

- Shodai: First Hokage. Some people tell me it should be Shodaime, and some say it should be Shodai. I'm not too sure myself, so if any of you know of a website I can refer to, I'd be grateful :-)

- Amegakure: Hidden Rain, where Pain, the Akatsuki leader, lurks.

**The Author has More to Say:** The epilogue has been finished! As it is, chapter 26 is the epilogue. I'm actually not very happy with it, and will probably edit and rewrite bits of it. I suck at writing endings, so… sigh. I'm angry at myself for such a sucky chapter and kinda afraid of disappointing you guys.

And yes, to those who have been hoping for me to get back to ITI: I will be continuing it soon. But I have other ideas for fics that I'd like to try out, so… things may be a little slow, k? Heheh…

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	15. Chapter 15

**The Author Says:** I sincerely apologize for the long wait, especially to those whom I'd told that I'd be updating the next day or so in their review replies. I have a new job, and they practically pushed us into the deep end of the pool and told us to swim, so I have quite a bit of work planning to do. I'm really sorry about that, which is why I'm uploading two chapters at once today :-)

Happy Chinese New Year! Keong Hee Huat Chai! Still no angpow (red packets) since I'm still not married (phew! XD) but I still want to wish you all a happy and successful and prosperous and blessed year of the ox! ^_^

Thank you for all the reviews! I really appreciate those that say more than 'Update soon!'. Seriously! Telling me to update after I just did… that's _really_ annoying. And those reviews that have _more_ about _ITI_ than ITM in them – now those piss me off. If you would like to know about stuff not concerning the fic you're reviewing, please feel free to PM me and be polite about it. I'll definitely get back to you.

Oh well. Let's get on with the story and ignore my annoyed and frustrated ramblings, ne? :-)

U/L: 30th January 2009.

* * *

**In That Moment**

By _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 15**

* * *

"What happened between you and Naruto-kun three nights ago?" came the whispered question.

Sasuke kept his eyes ahead, seemingly ignoring his brother, who had unobtrusively came up on his left; near enough to talk so that others couldn't hear. Sasuke detected the very faint concern tingeing the elder Uchiha's voice and wondered who it was for – him or Naruto. His jaw, however, tightened at the reminder of the incident.

"…none of your business," Sasuke finally replied tersely. The Konoha team was travelling at top shinobi speed through the forests of Konoha towards Amegakure, as directed by Itachi. The Rokudaime's feet touched the bark of the branch in front of him momentarily before he launched himself to the next branch.

Itachi leaped off the same branch as Sasuke, in sync with him. "It is my business when I had to go looking for my charge, only to find her crying as if her heart had been broken. She had been crying so hard that she nearly fainted from exhaustion after that. And as soon as she could stand, she handed the Forbidden Scroll over to Pain. So, as you can see, little brother, it _is_ my business."

Sasuke nearly stumbled when landing on the next branch. Naruto had been _crying_? After she cruelly broke his heart, _she_ was the one crying? But somehow, to know that she had cried so hard, and that it was somehow his fault, made his chest constrict.

Something did not add up. She was the one who had jilted him and seemed to take pleasure in his hurt, and yet she cried? Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he unconsciously picked up his speed, wanting to get to the truth out of Naruto.

"Slow down, otouto," Itachi murmured beside him. The Rokudaime didn't acknowledge him verbally, but forced himself back to his former speed, frowning. There was also the matter of his brother to get to the bottom of, and Sasuke suspected he wouldn't like neither Naruto's nor Itachi's explanations.

They continued in silence for a while. Sasuke focused all his attention on the journey and their surroundings, because if he allowed his mind to wander even a little bit, he would inevitably begin to think of and worry about that blonde idiot. Even now he was worrying whether the Akatsuki had begun the extraction. If he couldn't reach her in time; if she di… couldn't make it; if he couldn't save her… he would never forgive himself.

His fingers clenched into fists so hard that his blunt nails cut into his palm. He closed his eyes for a second and forced his fingers to uncurl as he quietly took deep breaths. Just as he finally relaxed and re-focused on jumping to the next branch, he felt Itachi's chakra spike, then start to fade.

He immediately slipped into fight-or-flight mode and lifted a hand to signal the others to stop before turning to Itachi, who, to his alarm was slowly fading into the air. He heard a startled gasp from Hinata, and the soft, almost inaudible successive 'thumps' of feet hitting the same large branch he and Itachi had stopped on.

"Otouto, something has gone wrong," Itachi said rapidly, his eyebrows drawn together. "My real body seems to require all my chakra." Itachi's image flickered twice before fading even more. "Keep going straight in this direction and you'll reach Amegakure. Something tells me you won't have trouble locating us." The elder's Uchiha's voice faded, as did his body.

Sasuke's heart pounded wildly in his chest, and a vice settled around his ribcage, making it difficult for him to breathe. His Sharingan whirled wildly as his eyes narrowed and his chakra flared. A second later, he turned to the Konoha shinobi.

"We have to move! Emergency situation! Naruto is probably in danger!" he barely managed to contain his panic, not wanting to make everyone panic as well. Already turning back and launching himself to the next branch, he injected as much authority as he could muster into his voice and shouted, "Move! Move!"

Even with Sasuke pushing as much chakra as he dared spare into his legs, they still took almost fifteen minutes to reach. During that time, Sasuke had ordered that the medic nin pass out the soldier pills they usually carried. During those tense minutes, Sasuke's heart pounded, jumped into his throat and sank into his feet all at the same time. His mind threatened to go crazy with anxiety, and it was only with an iron will that he kept his worried thoughts at bay; he blanked out his mind and went into shinobi mode – calculative; manipulative; focused; determined. The tension in the air around the Konoha nin was nearly palpable.

They were about seven minutes away when Sasuke started to sense it. A second later, he heard a quiet exclamation from Hyuuga Neji.

"Rokudaime-sama! I've detected a large chakra disturbance about 20 kilometres in the exact direction we're headed," he reported from his position in the formation, loudly enough to be heard by Sasuke. "There are ten nin – eight now – fighting two others. The huge chakra emission is coming from one of the two, and-- it seems the chakra has taken on the shape of a three-tailed, no, four-tailed fox."

Sasuke's heart leaped into his throat even as he tersely acknowledged the information. A minute later Hyuuga reported an update.

"It's definitely Naruto and Itachi fighting the Akatsuki,' he confirmed, and the sense of dread increased exponentially in Sasuke. He swallowed heavily. He'd once heard Sakura describe how the Kyuubi's chakra could literally cloak Naruto; the more tails formed meant the more Kyuubi's chakra was being used, and in turn led to Naruto's mind and logic being repressed by killer intent to the point she couldn't differentiate between friend and foe. Unconsciously, he fisted his hands so hard that his nails dug painfully into his skin.

The Konoha nin pushed on, every face grim. The scenery had changed from Konoha forests to more open lands. A cold drizzle fell on them as the tall, gloomy pseudo-metropolis of Amegakure came into sight. As they were running across a large lake that lay in the way to Amegakure, Hyuuga shouted, "ETA one minute! Five Akatsuki down!"

In front of their very eyes a huge reddish-orange ball of chakra formed and erupted. Though the eruption had been quite a distance in front of them, Sasuke flinched as a wave of dirty, malicious chakra pulsed in every direction. He heard some gasps coming from the nin behind him. Determinedly he led them across the body of water separating Konoha and Ame. About three-quarters of the way across, he shouted behind him, "Remember your positions, and stay alive!"

A resounding "Hai!" was his reply, and not two seconds later, they arrived in the thick of the battle. Sasuke stopped the moment he stepped onto solid ground, drew his Kusanagi and watched as his ninja hurtled past him at ninja speed. A large mass of orange-red chakra in the shape of a fox rose from the middle of the battle zone and began fighting four cloaked nin at the same time. Itachi was a little ways to his left, also fighting a cloaked nin that was wearing an orange mask. The Konoha ninja mainly raced toward Naruto, but stopped short as the Kyuubi chakra pulsated outwards and caught one of the cloaked figures in its wake. The figure writhed grotesquely in pain, then dropped to the ground, unmoving.

The other figures blurred away from her, but Naruto, or rather Kyuubi gave a growl so loud that Sasuke heard it clearly from where he stood, and pursued the Akatsuki member nearest to it. Sasuke moved to help her, but two cloaked figures slid to a stop in front of him. He recognized Itachi at once, and raised his chokuto to a ready position.

The elder Uchiha straightened almost nonchalantly, and his opponent did the same, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Otouto," Itachi said. Sasuke could hear that he was tired. "Meet Uchiha Madara, the real leader of Akatsuki."

"Tobi is a good boy!" the other man exclaimed, flinging up his black-gloved hands.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Itachi, but kept the other man in his sights at all time. Anyone who managed to make Itachi actually sound tired while not even seeming winded himself was definitely worth paying attention to. "Uchiha Madara is dead. I'm sick of your lies, Itachi."

Itachi sighed in disappointment. The man he called Uchiha Madara bounced on his toes and flapped his hands childishly. "Stop lying, Itachi-senpai! Tobi is a good boy!"

Then Sasuke caught sight of the blood-red iris and spinning tomoe as the man turned to face him, and his blood ran cold. Immediately, he punched the man's chest with the chakra of a chidori crackling around his fist, but to his shock – not that he let it show – his hand just phased through the man, who just laughed like he'd just heard a good joke. Itachi had already reacted, and soon Sasuke found himself fighting the mystery Uchiha alongside Itachi. The fight passed in a blur. All Sasuke could remember was that he used jutsu after jutsu and didn't have time to plan decent strategies, but had to fight on his toes. His teamwork with Itachi was a little rough around the edges, but they worked as well as they could.

As he slid by Itachi while avoiding Madara-Tobi's attack, he whispered furiously to his brother. "I need Amaterrasu!"

Itachi didn't hesitate. While Sasuke immediately engaged the masked nin to provide enough time for Itachi to begin his jutsu, he barely felt the slightest flicker of Itachi's chakra before black flames suddenly engulfed the large building nearest to the fighting ninja. Sasuke heard shouts and screams but couldn't be bothered about them in the least. He kept fighting as Itachi seemed to need to time to recover, and tried his best to push the mysterious Akatsuki member nearer to the burning building.

When he noticed Itachi pressing a hand against his mouth and swaying a little, looking too pale to be healthy, he surprised himself by the sudden concern he felt. Unfortunately, it caused him a slight lapse in concentration, and he had to pay for it with a painful slash from a pair of blades that had appeared from Madara-Tobi's sleeves. The cut was deep enough to be serious, and bled badly. Sasuke palpated the wound and found that it started somewhere from near the back of his neck – another few centimetres and Sasuke would have been paralyzed – and ran down in a jagged line down his left scapula and ended just around his fifth rib.

Madara-Tobi had paused. He stood with his head cocked to one side and regarded Sasuke intently. "Sasuke-chan, Sasuke-chan," he chided in a comically-mournful voice and shook his head in disappointment. "I had really hoped to not have to hurt you. I don't suppose you would just stand quietly at the side like a good little boy while your loving brother and I finish this fight that's been a long time coming?"

Sasuke only glared and snarled in response with his Kusanagi in one hand and the other hand encased in green chakra and moving over his wound awkwardly due to its position. The mysterious Uchiha shook his head again and sighed dramatically.

"Boys these days! In my time when our elders told us to do something, we'd obey – no questions asked!" the man exclaimed with upraised hands in exaggerated exasperation. Sasuke saw the attack in time, and managed to shunshin just far away enough to avoid the rain of kunai. "Well, I'll give you a choice, Sasuke-chan. You can come with me – I'd love for you to join me – or we can have it out here. You couldn't possibly want to skip back to the village that betrayed us hand-in-hand with your loving elder brother, now would you?"

Before Sasuke could reply or even properly digest what the man had said, Itachi appeared in front of him, his back to Sasuke so that he faced Madara-Tobi and effectively shielded Sasuke from the man's vision. Sasuke didn't quite know what to think of the protectiveness he could hear in Itachi's voice.

"Leave Sasuke out of this, Madara. You claim to be a man of your word, and you had promised to stay away from him." Itachi slid one foot forward. "You will have to go through me before you get to Sasuke."

"Ah, Itachi!" Madara-Tobi said delightedly. "So wonderful how we Uchiha are such a tight-knit, protective lot, eh? Your love for your little brother brings tears to your great-great-great-great-great-how many greats is it anyway-grandfather's eyes!" The man actually fake-sobbed and swiped a hand across his mask where his eye would have been. Itachi tensed and swivelled around, curving an arm around Sasuke and throwing them both to the ground as a line of kunai shot over them at the exact height that corresponded to Itachi's neck. "Your ojiisan is so proud that one of his little grandsons is a feared S-class missing nin and the baby of the family is the Rokudaime Hokage! What a dream come true for the Uchiha!"

The youngest Uchiha hissed in pain as the roll jarred his barely-closed wound. Itachi left him on the ground and got to his feet, only sparing him a glance.

"But really, Itachi-kun. How are your eyes? You couldn't even aim that Amaterasu properly anymore, and now you want to fight me." Madara spoke calmly. Itachi dusted a sleeve in an almost nonchalant manner and slid his foot forward again. Tobi's squeaky tones – Sasuke realized that 'Madara' spoke in a calmer way whereas 'Tobi' was more childish than he ever remembered Naruto being – rang out. "Itachi-senpai! Tobi is honoured that Itachi-senpai wants to fight Tobi! Tobi will do his best! Itachi-senpai must take Tobi seriously!"

With a jolly-sounding laugh the masked Akatsuki member threw a jutsu Itachi, who easily evaded it. Sasuke reacted quickly – he rolled out of the way and onto his feet. He watched for a few seconds as Itachi fought the madman. Itachi was doing his best to lead Madara-Tobi away from where Sasuke was, but Sasuke could see Itachi was tiring fast, and he misaimed a jutsu that should have hit Madara-Tobi point-blank.

Worry crept into Sasuke's mind and he gritted his teeth as he summoned chakra. He didn't know how the other Konoha nin were doing. He was barely keeping anxious thoughts about Naruto away from the forefront of his attention, and wanted very badly to turn around and look for her, but couldn't bear to leave his brother like that either. Teeth grinding together, Sasuke swiftly gathered his chakra. Face grim and determined, Inner Sasuke tied his hitai-ate around his forehead with deliberate movements.

It was time to end the Uchiha battle and get Naruto back.

* * *

**Glossary-of-sorts**

Amegakure: Hidden Rain

Otouto: little/younger brother

Kusanagi: grass-cutter. The name of Sasuke's chokuto (sword)

Senpai: senior. It can be spelt senpai or sempai.

Tomoe: the comma-like shape of the Sharingan.

Amaterasu: Japanese goddess of the sun. it's the name of Itachi's Mangekyo fire jutsu with black flames.

Ojiisan: grandfather. Ojisan (with one 'i') means uncle. With two 'i's it means grandfather.

**The Author has More to Say:** I hope my characterization of Madara is believable. In the manga – spoilers! – the most he has spoken was when he went storyteller on Sasuke. I read that part a while ago, so my Madara-Tobi might be a bit different from the manga's.

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	16. Chapter 16

**The Author Says:** Again, I apologize for the delay in uploading. **This is the second chapter uploaded today**, so if you haven't read chapter 15 yet, please do that first :-)

Happy Chinese New Year of the Ox!

U/L: 30th January 2009

**P.S.** A bunch of thanks to **chm01** for pointing out the mistake in the name of Sasuke's Katon jutsu! I've corrected it. Thanks again, and new year cookies to you! :-)

* * *

**In That Moment**

By _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 16**

* * *

Sasuke swiftly gathered his chakra. He hadn't much left, and he didn't want to rely on the cursed seal, but it looked like he had to. His fingers blurred into a series of seals and with a deep breath, he blew out his own modification of the Uchiha fire jutsu – Katon: Gouryuuka no jutsu, causing it to fly and seem to miss Madara by the merest chance. Dragon heads of fire flew from his mouth, barely avoided the orange-masked man and headed up into the sky, creating a sudden drop in pressure that speedily brought about the formation of thunderclouds. He didn't have to wait long before lightning flashed across the sky.

Sasuke braced himself as he turned towards Madara, whose back was facing him as he fought Itachi. With incredible speed, he ran towards the eldest Uchiha, moulding chakra as he went. He had only one chance to do this. With a fleeting thought of a prayer, he shoved his palm forward.

"KIRIN!"

Lightning that had been crackling from the clouds overhead rushed down in one powerful stream. It enveloped Sasuke for a second, then flowed into his outstretched arm into his hand and shot from his fingers at the speed of light. No shinobi; no human, for that matter, would have been able to avoid that violently chirping and crackling chakra, and Madara, Sasuke noted with so much relief and thankfulness that he nearly felt faint, was no exception.

With a scream that would haunt Sasuke's nightmares for nights to come, Madara lit up like one massive firework. The light was so intense that Sasuke had to reluctantly look away, and before he could look back to see the results of the jutsu, the smell of charred flesh assaulted his nostrils and he had to hold back the urge to vomit.

Belatedly, Sasuke realized that Itachi might have been in range of the jutsu. A stab of panic startled him to his feet; he hadn't even realized he had sunk to his knees in relieved fatigue. He staggered to his feet, worry clawing at his heart. Suddenly his worry for Naruto broke past his mental restraints and flooded his mind as well. Bile rose quickly in his throat, his heart pounded against his ribs and his eyes widened wildly.

He hadn't taken two steps to where Madara lay in a smoking, burnt, vaguely humanoid heap on the ground before a hand landed heavily on his shoulder and a familiar voice rasped tiredly in his ear.

"Sasuke."

Again, Sasuke nearly crumpled to his knees in relief.

Itachi was panting and had a few serious cuts and wounds here and there. A quick visual scanned showed nothing life-threatening. Then he heard a voice scream loudly and hoarsely; it was one he recognized too well and his blood turned cold in his veins. His head snapped up and in the direction the scream came from. From the corner of his eye he saw Itachi nod at him, and with that he shunsin-ed in the direction he had heard the voice come from.

He saw most of the Konoha nin fighting various Ame nin that had showed up. Tsunade and Sakura were in a corner, and the pulses of light green chakra he could see indicated they were healing some of the injured. All those he noted in passing; his attention was on the battle in front of him.

Naruto, now having six chakra tails waving and snapping behind her, was fighting a tall Akatsuki member with spiky orange hair and numerous piercings. In an instant she summoned a huge rasengan and slammed it forwards, but the man evaded easily. Silently, two kage bunshin appeared behind the man with a huge shuriken of chakra and shoved it at the man's back before he should have had time to even sense it, but to his shock, the man managed to whirl out of the way in time, darting around the two bodies lying on the ground.

Sasuke watched with wide eyes. There was no way the man could have sensed the kage bunshin attack in time unless he had eyes in the back of his head! Sasuke circulated his chakra and narrowed his eyes, watching as Naruto tried to kick the man, but missed. It was too ridiculous a miss, Sasuke noted. There was no way Naruto would have missed with a kick like that from that distance.

With an inhuman roar, Naruto thrust her arms forwards and the Kyuubi's chakra followed, rushing towards the orange-haired man in a violent, powerful stream. The man bent and the waist and fluidly leaped out of the way, only to be caught around the waist by a tail of chakra that erupted out of the ground. Sasuke watched, tense and alert, as the tail of chakra lifted the man up into the air and slammed him into the ground again and again, then lifted him up and held him still as two kage bunshin appeared again with the shuriken of chakra floating between their palms. Naruto roared again and her kage bunshin rammed the shuriken into the man.

Shouts rang out around them as people watched the shuriken lifted the man higher up into the sky and whirled around his body, covering it like a cocoon of light. Discrete needles of what looked like light spun around the man, and into him as well, which Sasuke could see because of his Sharingan, meaning that they were actually chakra. He watched, impressed in spite of himself as the jutsu wreaked havoc on the man's physical body.

With a final blast of light, the jutsu ended and the body fell to the ground with a loud thump, kicking up a cloud of dust. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief; that had been the last Akatsuki member alive that he could see. He was more than confident that the Konoha nin could handle the Ame nin.

Naruto, however, gave a loud roar and jumped at him with her arms, and consequently the Kyuubi's chakra arms, outstretched. She had a vicious, furious look on her face, and growled angrily when Sasuke managed to evade her by the skin of his teeth. He remembered the underground-tail trick just in time to jump away the moment he landed. Indeed, as he rolled away, the ground tore apart and the chakra tails came charging through.

Sasuke rammed Kusanagi into the ground and leaped onto its hilt, and from there he pushed off into the sky. "Tenzou!" he yelled, then inhaled and blew out fireballs at Naruto, making sure to aim a little off so as not to hurt her. He had already used Level 1 of the cursed seal, and as he flew through the air, the colour of his skin changed in an instant, and large wings tore out of the back of his turtleneck.

"Hai!" Tenzou yelled back, already clasping his hands in the seal and performing that jutsu that required his 'gift' from the Shodai. Wooden posts exploded out of the ground in a circular arrangement around Naruto. Sweat gathered on Tenzou's brow and he shouted, "Rokudaime-sama! Use your eyes!"

Sasuke was aching all over and bleeding in some places, especially from his Madara-inflicted wound, but at Tenzou's shout he snapped his wings and dived straight at Naruto. The tomoe of his eyes were already spinning dangerously as he tried to look the blonde in the eyes. Naruto was bent at the waist, her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth twisted in pain. Tenzou's jutsu wasn't strong enough too entirely force back the Kyuubi's chakra; it struggled, pulsing around her; expanding and retracting, clawing out and flowing back in.

He stopped as near Naruto as he dared be and shouted, "Naruto!"

At his voice, Naruto started visibly and opened her eyes even as she gritted her teeth. Her eyes widened in utter surprise and emotions whirled in her irises. Her mouth opened to says something, but Sasuke didn't wait to hear what she had to say. His hands flashed into handseals. His irises spun to force back the Kyuubi's influence without descending into the seal, and he darted forward.

"Gogyou Fuuin!"

The five pads of the fingers of his left hand glowed purple and he pressed them against Naruto's stomach. She screamed in his ears – another sound to haunt his dreams – and collapsed into him. His arms came up quickly and supported her, but the momentum pushed him down. He stumbled backwards a little, and felt hot tears start to gather at the corners of his eyes. _Naruto's safe, Naruto's safe,_ Inner Sasuke chanted deliriously. Sasuke looked up into Naruto's face and tightened his arms around her, ignoring the stab of pain it caused his blade-wound. He retracted his wings and released the curse seal.

"Naruto, Naruto," he whispered, "it's over. It's all over."

Naruto, on her part, looked dazed and panted harshly. She didn't seem to see Sasuke's face right in front of hers for a while. "I'm alive…" she whispered, sounding shocked. "I'm supposed to die… how… I'm alive!" The glaze wore off her eyes and she looked startled to see Sasuke so near her. Her arms, which had been dangling at her sides, shot up his sides to grip his arms hard, her haphephobia seemingly forgotten. "Sasuke, I'm alive!"

Sasuke laughed and leaned his forehead against hers, ignoring the sweat, grime and streaks of blood. "Yes, love, you definitely are."

Her blue eyes misted. "Sasuke…"

He just smiled at her and closed his eyes in relief, wanting to enjoy this moment just a second longer before he had to gather up the Konoha nin and start the retreat. Because he had closed his eyes, he didn't see hers widen at the sudden movement behind him, but he definitely felt her whisk him in a 180-degree turn. His eyes snapped open in confusion but they immediately widened, as did his mouth.

Naruto had pushed him back a little. A sad, pained smile curved her lips and tears started to leak from her eyes. "Sasuke…" she started to say, but almost choked. Sasuke took a shocked, unwilling step backwards and saw, right away, the slim, black spear that protruded from the middle of her stomach. As Sasuke watched in frozen horror, the spear tore itself diagonally downwards, ripping a hoarse scream from Naruto's throat.

Her scream propelled him into action even as his Inner Sasuke screamed in his mind. _It couldn't be happening, not right now, not to Naruto, not after we've come this far, not when I can hold her again, no, No, NO!_

"NO!" Sasuke screamed, and pressed himself to her, careful to support her weight without hurting himself on the spear or jarring the profusely-bleeding wound. It was bleeding so much that Sasuke could see the dark blood stain even on her Akatsuki cloak. Looking over her shoulder and trying to ignore the way she trembled and gasped shallowly in his hold, his gaze immediately landed on a figure on the ground which had numerous grotesque black piercings and orange hair. The man's hand was still outstretched and clasping the black spear, but, even as Sasuke instinctively started moulding chakra for his version of the Lightning Blade, he realized that the man's eyes were already glazed over in death.

He raised his eyes a little and saw a blade sticking out of the man's back, right from where the heart would have been. A cloaked figure stood shakily behind the blade, and was grasping its hilt. Sasuke recognized both the blade and its wielder – his Kusanagi and Itachi. Fleetingly he realized he couldn't even remember when he'd left his Kusanagi behind. His eyes met Itachi's, and Itachi nodded and leaned his weight on the chokuto, taking deep, shaky breaths.

"Sasuke-kun! Let me see her!"

Sasuke turned his attention to the side, automatically strengthening his hold around Naruto. Sakura was there, probably attracted by their screams. Her face was drawn but determined and she had a tentative hold on Naruto, who had fallen unconscious. Sasuke unwillingly nodded and gently laid Naruto on the ground as Sakura carefully extracted the spear. He maintained a firm grip on Naruto's wrist as Sakura rapidly tore open the front of her cloak. He heard the gasp she tried to suppress, but had no trouble suppressing a gasp himself, since, at the sight of Naruto's mutilated body, his throat had tightened so much he had to force himself to relax in order to breathe.

The spear had wreaked terrible damage. It had penetrated right under her diaphragm, from what Sasuke could see, and had ripped downwards towards her left hip. She was still bleeding like crazy and her tanned skinned had turned a disturbing colour – like clay that had been dissolved in milk. Sakura was letting her hands hover all around Naruto's opened abdomen, so Sasuke couldn't see properly, but he was definitely not encouraged by the fact that Sakura herself was pale and muttering worriedly under her breath.

"Something's wrong – the Kyuubi's not healing her," Sakura muttered worriedly. Sasuke looked up.

"I had to seal it – Tenzou's Mokuton jutsu wasn't enough," he replied tersely. A shout interrupted his focus on what Sakura was doing.

"NARUTO!"

An arm forcibly pushed Sasuke out of the way, but he didn't release his hold on Naruto's wrist, and stopped himself from lashing out only because it was Tsunade who had come. The older blonde's eyes were wide and worried, but after a few deep breaths she calmed herself down, though Sasuke saw her eyes glimmering with tears. Her hands glowed green as well, and started to move over Naruto's wound. Sakura informed the Godaime about Sasuke sealing the Kyuubi.

"Sakura," Tsunade barked, "start getting her ready for transport. The injury is too serious for us to handle in the field, we need the stabilizing fields, vitals monitor and the Hyuuga medic nin."

Sakura looked like she wanted to argue, hesitated a moment and finally bit her lip and nodded. Tsunade nodded as well. She finished up her jutsu and let the green light fade from her hands. Sakura did the same, and straightened. "What about Jiraiya-sama?" she asked crisply, professionally.

Tsunade's face darkened. "He needs immediate transport to the hospital as well. The old fool had his arm severed. Luckily it's a clean cut, but too much time has passed for the arm to be re-attached, if it can even be found in the first place."

Sakura nodded.

"Kiba will be transporting Jiraiya," Tsunade continued in the same brisk tone, then hesitated. "Naruto's in more danger than Jiraiya, but Akamaru cannot transport Naruto for fear of jarring the injury. Perhaps... I'll get Sai to draw one of his ink birds; flight would be more stable--"

Sasuke stood up, wincing as pain shot across his back, and said firmly, "I'll do it. I'll use my curse seal."

Tsunade opened her mouth to argue right away, but Sasuke didn't let her start. His eyes flashed. "I'm not letting her out of my arms or sight."

Sakura quickly laid a hand on Tsunade's arm. "Shishou, it'll be best. Time is of the essence; let's not argue about how Naruto gets there – as long as she _does_ get there."

Sasuke nodded in agreement with Sakura's words, while in his mind, Inner Sasuke stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry at Tsunade. He started to draw on his cursed seal, and could immediately feel the power gushing through his chakra system and the physical changes his body went through. His control of the curse seal's effects had improved dramatically to the point it no longer warped his thinking, and he could easily dictate which part of his body transformed. Right now, he merely allowed his wings to emerge again through the holes in his turtleneck left by the previous transformation.

Right away, he created a kage bunshin. The kage bunshin started rounding up the other Konoha nin to initiate the retreat. Sasuke had also given it instructions – mentally, of course, from the moment he created it – to keep Itachi in his sight at all times. It wasn't just to make sure Itachi didn't escape – Sasuke had a feeling of concern for Itachi that he couldn't ignore, though at this point he wouldn't be admitting it to anyone other than himself. Or maybe Naruto, if she would ask.

Thinking of Naruto made him refocus on the blonde lying on the ground, and his eyes narrowed in determination. His heart pounded in his chest. Sakura bent down and lifted Naruto as gently as she could. She put her into Sasuke's arms, who held her securely, lovingly and possessively.

"Tsunade-sama, Sakura," he said, giving his wings a trial flap. Already he could feel his cut healing, thanks to the ability he somehow absorbed from Orochimaru. His shoulder didn't feel as stiff, and he only felt a dull ache when he beat his wings. "Send word to the hospital to get them ready for Naruto, then get there as soon as you can." His voice faltered minutely, but it was enough for Sakura to catch it. Her eyes snapped over to him, but she didn't say anything as he choked out, "Please."

The pink-haired medic nin just nodded, as did Tsunade. Just for his peace of mind, Sasuke's eyes roved over the Konoha flak jackets until they reached the only Akatsuki-cloaked man standing. Satisfied that his brother seemed fine, he set his teeth and rose into the air, flying as fast as he could towards Konoha.

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**Glossary-of-sorts**

Katon: Gouryuuka no jutsu: Fire Element: Great Dragon Fire technique. In the manga, Sasuke's the first to use this technique, so it's probable that he's the one who invented it.

Kirin: Sasuke's ultimate (i think) Lightning Element technique which uses natural lightning to produce an powerful lightning stream in the form of Kirin (a Japanese mythological beast).

Shunshin: body flicker technique. Not to be confused for the Fourth's Hiraishin no jutsu (Flying Thunder God technique).

Gogyou Fuuin: Five-point seal. Orochimaru uses it to suppress the Kyuubi's influence during the second part of the chuunin exam (the Forest of Death) that he gate-crashed. Jiraiya had to undo it with a five-point unseal technique because it was hindering Naruto's ability to mould chakra properly.

Mokuton: Wood Element. The Shodai Hokage's unique element that apparently no one other than Tenzou/Yamato has.

Shishou: master. What Sakura calls Tsunade, since Tsunade's her teacher.

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	17. Chapter 17

**The Author Says:** Sorry about the delay. Work caught up with me, seeing as I'm an expert procrastinator. In fact, as I'm typing this, part of my mind is wondering when I'm going to actually finish that bit of work I brought back last week…

**ReenaYuki-hime **drewa neat pic of Keimei from I Think I! All you have to do is go to the DeviantArt website and search the word 'TooDarnLazy'. It should pop up; it's a really pretty drawing of Naruto/Keimei in her wedding kimono. Thank you so very much, **ReenaYuki-hime**! XD

Today's the last day of the Chinese New Year. Happy Chap Go Meh! Let me know if you went orange-throwing, eh? ;-) Hahaha.

U/L: 9th February 2009

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**In That Moment**

By _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 17**

* * *

Sasuke angled his wings so that he could ride the air currents while expending minimal energy.

The wind blew sharply across his face, so he had to duck his head a little. He was flying above the treetops, so he risked a glance at Naruto. She seemed as pale as she had been earlier, but Sasuke guessed it was a good sign that she wasn't getting worse. Sakura had forced blood pills and soldier pills down her throat so Sasuke assumed the blood loss and chakra depletion had been nullified, for now. He bent his head a little lower and kissed the top of her head tenderly, feeling his heart expand with the force of his feelings for her. He pushed away all worry, not wanting to give in to pessimism.

By air, took him less than half the time to return to Konoha than the Konoha nins had taken to reach Ame. He swooped towards the hospital and landed as gently as he could on the flat roof. Medic nin had been waiting for him, and one attempted to take Naruto from him as he allowed his wings to recede. He snarled at them and turned his side to them, shielding Naruto.

"Lead the way," he barked. The medic nin jumped in fright and quickly nodded and bowed, and scuttled to the door, together with the other three medic nin. They led him to a room where seal glyphs and swirls ran across almost the entire surface of the room's walls and floor, with the pattern of the seal leading to the bed. Sasuke strode over to the bed and lowered Naruto carefully. The medic nin immediately started hovering over her with green chakra-enveloped hands.

"Get me a chair," Sasuke barked at one of them. The medic nin looked at him in surprise.

"Rokudaime-sama? But you have to leave the room, no non-medics are allowed to be in the room when we start the procedure..." the medic trailed off at the onset of Sasuke's glare. He quickly took a step back and bowed. "Hai, Rokudaime-sama!"

When the chair came, Sasuke hooked his foot around a leg and sent it skidding to the head of the bed. He sank into it and pulled Naruto's hand over to him and kept it between both of his as the medic nin began by dispelling the stasis jutsu. Sasuke cringed when her blood began to flow again. A minute later, the medic nin had the room-wide seal activated and glowing green. A whirl of chakra swept through the room, stirring Sasuke's bangs around his face.

Sasuke gripped Naruto's hand hard as her face contorted in pain, even in her unconsciousness. He had to squeeze his eyes shut to stop the tears from dripping down. About an hour and a half after the medic nin began, Sakura blew into the room and marched up to Naruto, and plunged right into work. A little of Sasuke's anxiety was alleviated. He quite trusted Sakura's skills as a medic nin.

He breathed in and out slowly, so as to keep himself from starting to worry. As he shifted his grip on Naruto's hand, his eyebrows lifted slightly in surprise when he encountered an unusual bulge under her glove. Before he could do anything about it, however, a stream of memories swept into his mind, and he sifted through them until he could confirm that Itachi had been seen to by a competent medic nin and was resting peacefully in a hospital room of his own, with ANBU guards around him.

Sasuke sighed in relief, then turned his attention to the curious lump he was palpating. He pulled off Naruto's glove and froze when he saw what was lying in her palm.

It was a white gold heart having a ruby centre, with its chain twisted around her fingers. With trembling fingers, he opened the locket to confirm it was indeed the one he had given her on their date; their inscribed names were on either half of the locket.

She had never thrown away the locket.

Sasuke couldn't have stopped himself even if he had wanted to. The events of the past few days, thoughts and worries of Itachi and Naruto and his feelings for Naruto all crowded his mind. His stoic composure broke and his shoulders shook as tears flowed freely down his face. He sobbed and sobbed, trying his best to stay silent.

"Naruto...!" he whispered, and put her hand to his cheek, pressing it to his skin. "Naruto..."

xxXXxxXXxx

"Naruto!" Sasuke awoke with a start, instantly alert with his Sharingan awakened and spinning madly. He clenched his jaw; he hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep. What made things worse was that right away he realized he was no longer in the same room that he'd brought Naruto to. This one looked like a normal ward, but one of the more exclusive ones. It must have been Sakura's doing, which both annoyed and chagrined him – to have been transferred to the bed without his knowledge was mortifying.

He brought a hand up to rub at his mildly-aching head but stopped short when he realized he had his hand around something; quite the death grip, actually. His eyes automatically turned towards his hand and saw that he was gripping a slightly smaller, tanned hand, around which wound a silver-coloured chain.

_Naruto..._

He loosened his grip on her hand but didn't let go. His other hand came up from his side and gently stroked her face. She was unconscious – Sasuke hoped she was merely sleeping – and still pale, but had more colour than what he last remembered. He brushed her hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ear. Her nose crinkled a little at that, but she just sighed softly and remained asleep.

He realized that they were on separate beds that had been pushed together; probably due to the grip he had had on Naruto's hand. A brief smirk rose to his lips and disappeared. Yes. Now that Naruto was back, he wasn't letting her go again.

Sasuke bent down to her face, closed his eyes and kissed her forehead. As he was doing so, he heard the door open, but didn't startle. He took his time, kissing Naruto's too-cool forehead and running his thumb gently over her cheek before rearranging the blankets over her and finally turning to the visitor.

Sakura stood there with her jaw hanging open. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. "I'm somehow shocked to see that, but at the same time I'm not surprised at all," she said at last.

The brunet grunted, using his thumb to run circles over the back of Naruto's hand that he was still holding. "How is she?" he asked softly.

The medic nin came over to Naruto's other side and put her hand on Naruto's forehead. "She'll recover. No reason to anticipate any complications. It'll be a slow recovery though, in contrast to her usual speed-healing. But it's a good thing, since having the Kyuubi's chakra mixing with hers during the fight was bad enough. She'll be better off recovering on her own. We had to put you both in the same room since you wouldn't let go." The last bit was said rather pointedly.

Sakura picked up Naruto's other hand and held it, and rubbed it gently with her other hand. "She... I'm pretty sure she'll be fine physically after some time, but I'm not sure of how she'll be mentally. Using so much of the Kyuubi's chakra might have irreversibly influenced her. And with the way you described her when you caught her that time in the Hokage's Library, I'm not sure if she's still the Naruto we used to know."

Sasuke noted Sakura's obvious worry. He took Naruto's hand into both of his, and it was a while before he answered. "She _has_ changed," he answered. "She's not as loud or annoying anymore. But I know Naruto," his tone was confident, "she wouldn't allow the Kyuubi to turn her into a monster. She's still Uzumaki Naruto. Or Namikaze Naruto. She's still Naruto."

"...you sound like you know her well," Sakura commented cautiously. Her sharp eyes were observing him intently. He glanced at her dismissively, then turned his attention back to Naruto's face, and reached out a hand to run his fingers through her hair like he'd always wanted to.

"She's been to my house a few times after the library incident," he said at last. Sakura's eyebrows shot up.

"What!" she nearly shouted, but managed to keep her voice down. Her hands trembled in anger. "She came to you and you concealed that from us?!"

Sasuke didn't pause the movements of his fingers. After a few strokes, he ordered his thoughts and replied Sakura with a brief – very brief – recap of the situations and times when Naruto had been to his house over the past year. Inner Sasuke smirked and smiled at the memories that he went over as he spoke.

"I didn't inform anyone because I didn't want to give her any reason to stay away," he concluded, though that was mostly a lie. He hadn't told anyone because he hadn't even thought of it until the night Itachi had reappeared; he had wanted Naruto all to himself.

Sakura clenched her jaw. Sasuke could tell she was restraining herself from punching his lights out, and he could understand how she felt, but he wasn't sorry for keeping Naruto's presence a secret. His ex-teammate drew a few deep breaths to calm herself and changed the topic slightly.

"So I assume the Kazuha-san that we met at the Sakura Festival was really Naruto in disguise?" she asked with a shaky smile. Sasuke nodded. "I see," Sakura said. She patted Naruto's hand and tucked it under the blanket. "She'll be discharged tomorrow, since all she really needs is rest. Tsunade-sama mentioned that she's willing to look after Naru--"

"No," Sasuke broke in forcefully. He glared at Sakura, daring her to oppose him. She obligingly glared back over Naruto's sleeping form. "Naruto will convalesce at my house. I will take care of her." He gripped Naruto's hand. "She's more familiar with my bedroom anyway."

A strangled sound came from Sakura's throat. "_What_?"

Sasuke quickly ran over what he had said, and Inner Sasuke blushed on his behalf when he realized the implications of his words. Outwardly, he merely raised an eyebrow at Sakura.

"You... and Naruto...?" Sakura choked out with wide eyes. "You two s-slept together?"

Absently thinking that Sakura had quite the perverted mind, Inner Sasuke smirked evilly and smugly, and Sasuke answered nonchalantly, "Yes. Almost every night she was in my house."

Sakura choked on her saliva. "But she has haphephobia!"

Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow again, as if to say 'what of it?'. Sakura's mouth kept opening and closing, so Sasuke decided to take pity on her. He smirked inwardly as he explained, "She slept on my bed and I slept on the floor of my bedroom. This way her haphephobia was not an issue."

It was a while before comprehension dawned on the pink-haired woman's face, and she clenched her fists and glared venomously at him. "You...you...!!" she gritted out. Sasuke finally allowed his smirk to show, and was a little taken aback when Sakura blew out a breath and gave him a small, fond smile.

"It's good to have you back, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke grunted and turned away from Sakura. He had been unconsciously rubbing Naruto's hand tenderly while talking. Satisfied that she was out of danger, he decided to ask about the other person he was – unwillingly – concerned about.

"What is Itachi's condition?"

"He's fine, as well. He had mild chakra depletion and a few serious injuries, but nothing our medic nins couldn't handle. He was put in the room next to yours and had trusted ANBU guards. He was pronounced healthy in two days."

Sasuke started to nod, then something caught his attention. "Two days?" he asked. "How long have I been out?"

"Three days," Sakura replied easily, with a slight smile at Sasuke's flabbergasted look. Without another word, he let go of Naruto's hand, slipped off the bed and quickly created a kage bunshin. His kage bunshin took his place on the bed and re-held Naruto's hand. Sasuke himself slipped out of the room with a nod to Sakura, ignoring her call to him as he left.

He strode the few short steps down to the next door, but right away noticed the lack of any chakra signature, Itachi's or any others that would have signalled the ANBU guards. He tensed and quickly slid open the door to Itachi's room, but found, as he had expected, that the room was empty. He started to get alarmed – had Itachi escaped? He whirled on his heel and rushed out, intent on getting to the Hokage Tower, but Sakura stood in the doorway with a disapproving look.

"What is it about men and their inability to listen?" she grumbled under her breath while shaking her head before informing Sasuke, "Itachi had been granted leave by Tsunade-sama to travel outside Konoha. I don't know the specifics, only that he's expected back at sunset today."

Sasuke stopped and breathed deeply a few times to dispel the panic that had threatened to set in at Itachi's absence. He turned to look at the sky through the window and noticed it was sunset already. Deciding quickly, he nodded at Sakura and slipped past her. He briskly made his way out of the hospital straight to the Hokage Tower, where the staff, who tried to express their joy at seeing him up and about, were impatiently interrupted by his questions. After finally ascertaining that Itachi had yet to return, he set off at a fast clip to the main gates.

He reached there about halfway through sunset, where the guards verified that Itachi hadn't appeared yet. With a glance at the sky to confirm the time, he leaned against one side of the massive gate posts and settled to wait. If Itachi was to return by sunset, he wouldn't have to wait long. As he rested against the wooden structure, he realized that his shoulder was no longer hurting, and that he felt only a little of the deep fatigue that would have set in after such an intense battle. It would seem that the somewhat unintentional three-day rest had done him good.

He wondered what business Itachi had outside Konoha that was so urgent. Some enemy nin he had to eradicate? Some item he had to retrieve?

While Sasuke had been idly pondering those possibilities, the sun had slipped below the horizon and lights had blinked on all over the village. Sasuke's anxiety returned – Itachi was a man of his word; moreover, he had never failed to complete a mission. The brunet started pacing around with his hands clenched and rigid by his side.

He was two minutes away from returning to his office to send out retrieval teams when his Sharingan picked out distinctively human chakra signatures coming towards the gates from due east. As they came nearer, the chakra signatures solidified into humanoid shapes; one of which was definitely Itachi's. However, the other four people made him stop short and Inner Sasuke gape.

Because, if he wasn't mistaken – and he very, very rarely was – he was looking at Itachi, who was holding the hand of a child walking beside him and had another child on his back, walking towards Konoha's gates with a female adult at his other side, carrying a baby.

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**The Author has More to Say:** Thank you for all the reviews. Manga Spoilers! Has anyone seen the all-new Sage Naruto? Kyaa!!! He's so cool! The coat and the shadows around his eyes… woah…! Heheh. But he's been captured by Pain! I used to think Pain was cool… until the last few chapters. Can't wait for Naruto to squash him like a bug! (Sorry, Shino ;p)

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	18. Chapter 18

**The Author Says:** Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. It's a relief to know you guys were okay with my Madara-Tobi. And practically everyone mentioned Itachi! Way to steal the show, Itachi. Hahaha. Well, more of him in this chapter :-) Enjoy!

U/L: 15th February 2009

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**In That Moment**

By _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 18

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**

Sasuke's eyes widened momentarily.

Itachi was walking hand-in-hand with a child, and had another child on his back. Beside him – close beside him – was a lady carrying a baby in her arms.

Sasuke stood stiffly as they approached.

Itachi looked tired. He nodded at Sasuke, then gestured the lady forward. She had pleasant features – not particularly beautiful, but with a pleasant, if tired, expression. She had long dark hair that looked black in the semi-darkness. Her eyes were dark; he couldn't make out their colour. She nodded respectfully at him as Itachi introduced her.

"This is my wife, Harumi. Harumi, this is the Rokudaime Hokage, Uchiha Sasuke." Itachi let go of the little hand he was holding and pushed its owner forward with a gentle hand on her upper back. "My firstborn, Aiko."

The girl peered curiously and shyly up at Sasuke, then turned to Itachi with a look of absolute adoration that forcibly sent Sasuke back in time. He remembered when it was he himself that looked at Itachi with that look on his face. Shaken, he was roused from his memories as Itachi introduced his second child, Eri a girl, and his youngest child and only son, Kazuo.

Sasuke was having a hard time taking it in, although he made sure it didn't show on his face. Itachi... with a family. A family that would have been left fatherless if he'd had his revenge. Discreetly, he looked at the eldest girl and determined that she was about four, at most five years old, but couldn't be sure if she'd been born, or even conceived, before or after his last big fight with Itachi, after which he'd been dragged back to Konoha by Naruto.

From what he could make of the children's features, they definitely resembled Itachi. His heart beat painfully in his chest. Itachi's _family_... _Itachi's_ family. _Sasuke's family_.

He hid his shaking hands by putting them behind his back and smiling as sincerely as he could at Itachi's eldest girl, which only turned out to be a small smile, but it was enough to send the little girl into hiding behind her father's legs, behind which she peeked out and smiled shyly at him.

Her father.

Sasuke still couldn't really wrap his head around the fact that Itachi was a father and had a family, and that, by default, Sasuke was an uncle. Three times over. Inner Sasuke pulled at his bangs and shook his imaginary head wildly.

"Rokudaime-sama," Itachi said in a respect-tinged but mostly blank tone. It was enough to make Sasuke pull himself together and shelve his thoughts with a mental wince at the term and tone Itachi addressed him with.

"Welcome to Konoha," Sasuke said formally and bowed to his sister-in-law and the children. Aiko giggled behind Itachi's legs. Harumi bowed back. "Where will you be staying?" he inquired of Itachi. The older man looked at him.

"Godaime-sama has allocated us rooms in the Hokage Tower," Itachi said. Sasuke shook his head right away.

"Stay in my apartment for the night, then you can begin looking for a house." Sasuke rather surprised himself by his own offer. The fact that the Uchiha compound was still standing, empty and deserted, was carefully ignored by both the Uchiha men. "I will be returning to the hospital. Naruto has yet to awaken."

Itachi hesitated. Aiko yawned and rubbed her face in the back of his knee, and that seemed to decide him. "Thank you, Rokudaime-sama," he said softly. Even his eyes were soft. It was obvious Itachi knew Sasuke still didn't quite know what to think of Itachi, and probably hadn't fully let go of his hatred yet. Sasuke himself certainly didn't know what his own thoughts were.

Without saying anything else, Sasuke turned around and led the way to his apartment. The people they passed in the streets stared openly at the little procession, at least until Sasuke glared at them. They reached his apartment without incident. Sasuke unlocked the door and handed his keys to Itachi, telling him to use anything and everything he needed. Both Itachi and his wife thanked him, with Harumi bowing. Just as Sasuke reached the threshold, a little voice halted him.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Sasuke-jichan!" Aiko chirped. Sasuke froze, then turned around to see Aiko still holding on to Itachi's pant leg with a small fist, but she was smiling cheerily at him. Then she yawned, and Sasuke felt his heart melt. "Oyasuminasai!"

He took one last look at the family and his heart ached. He wanted it, too. He wanted to be standing where Itachi was, with Naruto by his side and their children holding onto his pants and on his back, and he wanted Naruto carrying their youngest just like Harumi was doing.

It took a huge effort, but he managed another small smile and nodded curtly. "Oyasumi."

xxXXxxXXxx

Sasuke awoke with a mental jerk, but thanks to his shinobi training, managed to keep from moving any muscles or altering his breathing. After a heartbeat he remembered dropping off Itachi and his family – and by default, _Sasuke's_ family – and walking back to the hospital while trying to sort out his thoughts.

One thing he was sure of – he could never kill Itachi's family. He felt he could kill Itachi if it came to it – he'd have to dredge up enough hatred from _somewhere_, though, because, to his horror, he realized he no longer loathed Itachi with the same burning intensity he used to have. More distressingly, he discovered a small pocket deep in his mind that held on to the hope that Itachi was somehow innocent; that Itachi was and had always been the brother he'd adored.

But he couldn't kill his nieces and nephew. Inner Sasuke's mouth worked comically as he tried out those words a few times. Nieces and nephew. Family.

He wasn't sure if he could rob a family of their father in cold blood like this.

Having scanned the chakra signatures in the ward first thing when he woke up and found none other than Naruto's, he exhaled gustily and sighed. He lifted a hand to rub at his forehead, but couldn't lift it high enough. Then he realized he had held onto Naruto's hand as soon as he had climbed into his bed. He squeezed his eyes tight, then opened them.

An involuntary smile rose to his lips as he watched Naruto serenely asleep, bathed in the early morning sunlight. It was déjà vu; it was the morning of their Sakura Festival date all over again, except this time, he got to see Naruto's natural blonde hair, lightly tanned skin and whisker marks. With a soft expression he'd never show anyone else, he reached over and lovingly ran the back of his hand over her cheek, and squeezed the hand he was holding. Her forehead wrinkled a little for a moment, but again she didn't wake. Inner Sasuke cooed in delight at her relaxed face.

He turned on his side, still holding onto her hand, and settled to watch her. He was rubbing circles onto her hand with his thumb and running his fingers through her hair with his other hand when the door slid open quietly. He turned his head to look over his shoulder at the intruder, who glared at him with narrowed chocolate brown eyes.

"Sakura had to convince me to allow you in the same room as Naruto, but I allowed it only because I would never have imagined this," Tsunade commented sharply. She closed the door behind her and stalked towards the open side of Naruto's bed. Her heels made irritated little clicks on the floor.

Sasuke snorted softly and sat up, watching as Tsunade looked over Naruto. As if sensing his question, she said, "She's doing fine. She should wake up by today. Pulse is fine, blood pressure a little on the low side but nothing to worry about, wounds healing a normal rate, colour is good." The Godaime straightened and pinned Sasuke with her sharp gaze. "Sakura tells me you want her in your house; that you want to take care of her. My question is this: why?"

Sasuke knew others would have to know of his feelings for Naruto sooner or later, and would much have preferred later to sooner, but it seemed that that was not to be. Without flinching or shifting his eyes from Tsunade's, he answered, "I care about her."

Tsunade arched an eyebrow, a touch of disdain and a whole lot of scepticism on her face.

Sasuke looked straight in her eyes. "I love her."

Tsunade snorted and Sasuke flared, but before he could say anything Tsunade started talking while smoothing back Naruto's hair. "Sakura told me what you'd said," the older blonde said quietly but her voice carried a steely undertone. "You know she's like a little sister, or even a daughter to me. I am more tolerant of you than most, but you know what you have done to her; how you've hurt her in the past."

Sasuke looked away at that, and his hand unconsciously tightened around Naruto's. It was a few moments before he could say anything. "I know. And I know this sounds corny, but I _do_ intend to make it up to her for the rest of my life."

It was Tsunade's turn to be silent. She continued stroking Naruto's hair almost absently as she arranged her thoughts. "How does Naruto feel about you?"

Sasuke rubbed Naruto's hand agitatedly. It was the only sign of uncertainty visible; the rest of him was as composed and closed off as usual. "I am quite sure she has… had… has feelings for me," he answered, not quite sure which tense he should use to describe Naruto's feelings. He had been quite sure of her affection, hence his confession of his own feelings to her. And while on that same night she'd turned him down so harshly, after the Kyuubi had been subdued on the battle field a few days ago, she certainly seemed happy to see him, and hadn't objected to his touching her, or even calling her 'love'. _If_ she had heard him, though. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he was right about her feelings for him.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at his answer, but Sasuke remained silent and looked down at Naruto instead, watching her blanket-covered chest rise and fall with each breath. She sighed. Sasuke looked up at her through the corner of his eyes.

"Fine," Tsunade sighed. "Having worked with you, I know you are quite level-headed – most of the time," she continued, with emphasis on the last part of the sentence leaving no doubt she was referring to his years away with Orochimaru. Sasuke flushed a little, barely enough to be noticeable. "I will give you the chance to speak to Naruto, but the moment she says no, you will have to stop pursuing her. I will be watching you," the older blonde warned.

Sasuke flared. "I understand your regard for her, but what happens between she and I is our business and no one else's," he said icily. He knew it wasn't the wisest thing to get on Tsunade's bad side when he wanted Naruto to stay by his side, but he couldn't help but be irritated at what he felt was her meddling in their affairs. "I love Naruto; I will respect her decisions. But what I do not appreciate is you, or anyone else, telling us what to do. We are adults."

Tsunade's eyes flashed. "Watch your tongue, Uchiha. I'm giving you an opportunity here, and I'm making sure Naruto won't get hurt, no matter what the outcome." She exhaled heavily and glared at Sasuke, who naturally glared back. "I'm only looking out for Naruto. I love her as well, and should you hurt her again, you will _suffer_."

"If I hurt her again I'll present myself to you on a silver platter," Sasuke retorted heatedly. Tsunade's eyes narrowed at this and she folded her arms across her chest and stared calculatingly at him. Then she turned on her heel and strode towards the door. Sasuke watched her, feeling vaguely perplexed. At the door, she turned around and glared at him.

"Well?" she barked. "Are you going to help me move her to your place or what?"

xxXXxxXXxx

Sasuke smoothed back Naruto's hair and made sure the blanket covered her adequately.

It was like a burden he didn't know he had been carrying was lifted off his back when Tsunade agreed to let Naruto continue recovering at his apartment. He had felt so light, and a smile broke through his cool façade that Tsunade had involuntarily smiled back. She had left about fifteen minutes ago, leaving him with a list – a literal written list – of instructions and warnings. He was to contact her by nightfall whether or not Naruto woke up during the day. He was to make sure she ate the vitamins and medicine Tsunade had left behind. He was to make sure she got enough rest, and he wasn't to agitate her by referring to things she didn't want to talk about. He was NOT to try to bathe her, or even help her undress – he was to call Sakura or Harumi, Itachi's wife – when Naruto needed help. They were to drop by twice daily anyways – once in the morning and another time at night. He was to alert Tsunade immediately should Naruto exhibit any – ANY – unusual symptoms, whether physically or mentally.

Sasuke snorted. He had taken one look – glance, more like it – at the list and tossed it somewhere out of sight. He knew how to take care of Naruto; he knew to alert Tsunade should anything go wrong, and he knew better than to peek at Naruto!

Inner Sasuke fervently lamented Sasuke's respect for Naruto's privacy, the perve.

Sasuke shook his head to rid himself of the _interesting_ thoughts Inner Sasuke was picturing. He willed down the blush on his face and gave the blanket a last pat, and leaned down to kiss Naruto's forehead. That was all he was willing to allow himself – he wasn't going to touch her lips until she allowed him to.

He sighed and stood up to head to the kitchen to find something for himself to eat, as well to organize Naruto's medication and supplements. That was the only thing on Tsunade's list he had paid attention to. As he was about to walk through the doorway, he heard a soft sigh from the bed. Eyes widening and heart pounding in hope, he spun around and rushed to the bedside.

"Naruto?" he called softly, with trepidation. His pulse was racing as he bent over her concernedly. "Naruto, saiai?"

She moaned softly and her face scrunched up a little. Sasuke could see her eyes moving under her eyelids for a few seconds before she blinked them open and stared at him dazedly. Her eyes narrowed with the effort of trying to focus on his face.

"Naruto?"

She seemed to recognize his voice, because she smiled softly. She still looked a little unfocused, but she shakily raised a hand to his face that was bent over her and cupped his cheek. "Sasuke," she whispered.

Sasuke could feel his eyes start to prickle, and his heart was so light, he felt like he was floating. "Naruto, saiai," he whispered back, his voice cracking with the relief he was feeling – relief that she was alright, relief that she didn't hate him, that somehow she hadn't meant what she had said that night.

Naruto smiled back at him, then yawned. He smiled back at her and stroked her cheek, loving how she leaned into his touch.

"Go to sleep, love," he told her softly. "You still need to rest."

She yawned again and closed her eyes, nodding. In just a few moments her breathing had evened out and her mouth fell open a little as she slept. Sasuke chuckled lightly and traced her lower lip with his thumb, then kissed her forehead and left her to sleep.

* * *

**Glossary-of-sorts**

Aiko: beloved child, or loving child. In this story, it's beloved child. A fitting name for Itachi's eldest child, ne?

Eri: blessed prize.

Kazuo: harmonious man

Arigatou gozaimasu: thank you very much.

Sasuke-jichan: Uncle Sasuke. Ojisan (not to be confused for ojiisan) means uncle.

Oyasuminasai: good night.

Saiai: beloved.

**The Author Has More to Say:** A wee bit of good news. I've started to write ITI again, though I can't say when I'll be satisfied enough to start updating again. It's rough going, though. It's kinda difficult to get back into the swing of things again, but I shall persevere! XD

_Happy Belated Valentine's Day! Me loves you guys a lot lot! XD_

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated.


	19. Chapter 19

**The Author Says:** I'm sorry about the delay, and am especially sorry that I don't have the time to reply to your reviews. I promise you guys that I did read every review, and will try to reply to them when I'm a little more free. My workload has been a little heavy these few weeks.

On a more interesting note… **Kihomi-chan** has done fanart of I Think I, and it's absolutely brilliant! I love it so much, especially Keimei's wedding portrait. You just have to go to the Deviant Art website and search for TooDarnLazy. It should be the last two pieces of art. Let her know what you think of her wonderful work! XD Thank you ever so much, **Kihomi-chan**!

A small mistake has been edited, thanks to **Phoenix Soar**. :-)

U/L: 27th February 2009.

* * *

**In That Moment**

By _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 19**

* * *

It seemed that Sasuke had been counting his kills a little early.

After Naruto had gone back to sleep, he had sent out a message using his snake summons. He knew the Konoha shinobi didn't like seeing his summons, which reminded them of Orochimaru, but he didn't care. He hadn't wanted to leave Naruto alone in the house – even if there was an ANBU squad stationed outside. His message had Tsunade appearing within the minute with Sakura and Shizune by her side. The three medics had crowded his bedroom and forced him into a miserable corner to watch as they fussed over the sleeping blonde.

Sasuke had barely managed to keep a pout off his face as Inner Sasuke sulked.

Finally, after much talk – that he hadn't really listened to – they had left, and Sasuke, after checking that Naruto was sleeping nicely, had gone into his kitchen and prepared his dinner – a cup of instant ramen, leftover from the stash he had been keeping for Naruto. As he sat eating his dinner, a smile had sprung to his face as he reminisced about the first time Naruto had appeared in his kitchen.

After dinner he had gotten a spare blanket and pillow, and went to sleep leaning on the mattress Naruto was on, as had been usual.

And then when Naruto had woken up in the morning, things started going south.

She had woken up before him, and when he opened his eyes, she was staring at him. Through his sleep-induced stupor the corner of his lips quirked up at her. "Ohayou, saiai," he whispered, a swirl of childish happiness blossoming in his chest at the chance to wake up next to her again. It died down, however, when she merely stared at him with dead eyes, then turned her gaze to the ceiling. Her face had been as blank as when he'd caught her in the Hokage's library.

He shook his head to clear it and quickly shifted to him knees and bent down a little to look at her. "Naruto? What's wrong? Are you in pain?" he asked quickly. His eyes moved over her entire form in concern, but he couldn't spot anything amiss. "Naruto?"

She didn't answer him, but turned her head away, obviously ignoring him. Sasuke stared at her for a while, feeling anxiety and confusion rise in his chest. He ran his fingers through his hair and scratched his scalp, then rose to his feet. He lowered a hand and tenderly swept her hair off her forehead, trying to convey his feelings through his touch. She didn't respond – not to recoil or even flinch from his touch. Sasuke bit his lip.

"Either Sakura or Harumi – she's …Itachi's wife – will be coming over every morning and evening to help you with your necessities," he said, his words stumbling a little when mentioning Itachi's name and family. She didn't twitch. "I sealed the Kyuubi's chakra with the Gogyou Fuuin when Tenzou couldn't force the Kyuubi back. Tsunade says it's actually a good thing, because although the Kyuubi's chakra would have accelerated your healing, it would have been detrimental in the long run. She left some medicines you're to take." He paused and took a breath. "I'll just go freshen up now and get us some breakfast, alright?"

She didn't answer. He just looked at her quietly for a bit, then went to freshen himself up and head to the kitchen to look for something to eat. The state of his cupboards and refrigerator was embarrassingly bare, so he sent out a kage bunshin to the market. While waiting for it to come back, he prepared a pot of green tea.

Just as he turned off the stove, he felt chakra signatures approach his front door. Frowning lightly, he poured the hot water into the teapot and went to answer the door as a series of smart knocks were heard.

He opened the door to find a small crowd outside, and let his frown deepen. "What." he growled.

Sakura, who was standing right at the front with Hyuuga by her side, smiled cheerfully at him. "Why, aren't you the picture of joy this morning, Sasuke-kun! Slept well?"

He scowled at her and heard a soft, amused sound from behind her head. Ignoring the answering scowl Hyuuga shot at him with practiced ease, he looked over the pink-haired head and noticed a woman older than Sakura by a few years standing there. She had long brown hair that was tied behind her head and was dressed in a simple yukata. Her features, though not exceptionally pretty, were quite pleasant and quietly friendly. Her lips were quirked up at the corners and her eyes had twinkles of amusement.

At the sound, Sakura turned her head and looked at the woman, whom, after a moment, Sasuke recognized as his sister-in-l… as Itachi's wife. Sasuke couldn't see what Sakura's face looked like, but Harumi's amusement became just a little more obvious.

"Anou, Uchiha-sama," came a quiet, sweet voice behind Hyuuga's big lump of a body. Hyuuga automatically moved to the side and allowed his cousin to step up. Hinata smiled at Sasuke, who nodded back. "Please forgive the intrusion. Neji-niisan and I have come to see Naruto-kun. Would you be so kind as to allow us to enter?"

_Darn,_ he thought. He couldn't allow just Hinata to enter and slam the door in Hyuuga's face, could he? Inner Sasuke shivered as he visualized the pulp he'd be smashed to by Sakura if he did that. He huffed internally and barely kept the scowl off his face as he stood back to allow them to enter. Hinata thanked him, as did Harumi.

Harumi was the last to enter – on purpose, it seemed – because she was waiting for Sasuke when he turned around from closing the door.

"Rokudaime-sama," she said with a smile. "I haven't had the chance to thank you for allowing us to stay in your home despite the bad blood between you and Itachi." Sasuke's surprise at her knowledge of how things stood between him and Itachi must have shown on his face, because she smiled again and continued, "There are no secrets between Itachi and I, unless it pertains to his duties as a shinobi. I know how things stand between you and Itachi, and he is as grateful as I that you would grant us your hospitality despite that. Touched, too, but of course he won't be admitting that too easily." She gave him a conspirator's smile as she paused, as if they were sharing an inside joke.

Sasuke's eyebrows rose in spite of himself. She just half-smiled, then looked questioningly at him. "I hope everything was left just the way you keep it? Itachi mentioned how you liked to keep your things in order. I'm pretty sure Eri didn't draw on your walls – she's at that age where any flat surface is a blank canvas to her, and I made sure to keep all the brus—"

"UCHIHA SASUKE!" Sakura's voice bellowed loudly throughout his quiet house as she stomped up to him. Her face was positively thunderous. "What did you do to her? What did you say to upset her, you bastard?"

Her Hyuuga shadow followed at her heels like a faithful puppy, mirroring her expression.

Sasuke looked coldly at her and made a bit of a show of turning back to Harumi. "No, please do not worry. I did not find anything amiss. You are much welcome," he told her politely, and saw how her eyes sparkled with mischief though her face was a polite mask. His lips, out of Sakura's sight, quirked in amusement, involuntarily. His face and eyes became cold as he turned back to the couple, though.

"I did not do anything to her, I did not say anything to her except to inform her of her condition and the arrangements made for help with her personal hygiene," he said icily, his eyes flashing at the idea that Sakura would think so negatively of him. He wouldn't do or say anything to purposely hurt Naruto!

Sakura stopped short and bit her lip. A second later, a contrite look passed over her face. Hyuuga, however, continued to glare at him. "You'd better not hurt her, Uchiha," he said in his smooth voice. The threat was unmistakable. "I don't know how you managed to convince Godaime-sama to agree to this, but one wrong move and it will be your last."

The very air in the apartment seemed to freeze as Sasuke's killing intent escaped his control. Remembering Naruto in his bedroom, he closed his eyes when he felt the Sharingan start to manifest and took a few deep breaths, willing himself to stop oozing killing intent. When he opened his eyes again, he glared at Hyuuga, and strode off to his bedroom without a word. He almost stumbled into Hinata, who was walking towards the living room, looking disturbed.

"Uchiha-sama," she said when she saw him, "I felt killing intent. Is something wrong?" she asked worriedly. Sasuke shook his head.

"How is Naruto?" he asked instead. Hinata seemed to understand instinctively, and nodded.

"Naruto-kun is fine," she said. Then her brows furrowed a little. "Or as fine as she could be without saying anything."

Sasuke sighed and rubbed his temples with one hand. "I don't know what is wrong," he admitted. Hinata was someone he could talk to without having to watch in case she turned his words against him. He wasn't in the habit of talking to her, but now he knew they were both worried about Naruto. "She recognized me and called my name yesterday when she awoke for a moment, but this morning she didn't even want to look at me."

Hinata stared thoughtfully at Sasuke. "You know…" she started slowly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "I get the feeling that Naruto-kun just needs time to work out things on her own. I am no medic nin, but I would say that there is nothing wrong with her mental health. She just needs to re-adjust, for now."

Sasuke sighed again, but this time in relief. Hinata was always perceptive, and generally when Hinata gave her opinions, people listened. He straightened and nodded. "I see," he replied. Hinata gave him a small smile and took leave of him, dragging her cousin off with her, to Sasuke's relief. After closing the door behind them, he entered his kitchen, where he found Sakura and Harumi sitting at the dining table, engaging in some sort of staring contest.

A look Sasuke couldn't read was shot from Sakura to Harumi, who smiled bemusedly in return, and nodded. Sakura stared hard at the other woman, then nodded and broke into a smile of her own. "Tea, Harumi-san?" she invited pleasantly, pouring out the green tea Sasuke had prepared before they arrived. Harumi nodded back, just as pleasant.

Inner Sasuke gaped bewilderedly at them, then decided it was some sort of female thing, and that it was better for his mental health not to even try and decipher what just went on.

Sasuke scowled at them. "That's _my_ tea," he said a little petulantly. Sakura nodded.

"Yes it is, and it's _cold_," she reprimanded him. Harumi hid a smile behind her cup and nodded in agreement. Sasuke scowled at them both. His kage bunshin decided to reappear at that moment, so he put away his purchases, leaving some rice, meat and vegetables on the counter while the kage bunshin went to his bedroom to keep the few clothes he thought he'd buy for Naruto. He moodily ignored the ladies and started cooking porridge for himself and Naruto.

"I'm impressed, Rokudaime-sama," Harumi's quiet voice broke the rhythm of his stirring. He could hear the amusement in her voice, and absently thought that she seemed to find amusement in a lot of things. "Itachi can't cook to save his life. He's good at fishing and hunting and roasting, but Kami-sama forbid he fires up the stove."

Sakura snorted into her cup in a failed attempt to bite down her giggles. Sasuke, facing away from them, allowed a small grin to touch the corner of his lips. He bit his lower lip then, forcing himself to be polite, and asked, "How are your children?"

Harumi was only too delighted to tell him details about his nieces and nephew, their little quirks and habits, their likes and dislikes. Then Sasuke realized something, and turned off the flame. His porridge was done, anyways. He looked at Harumi, but before he could say anything, half her mouth curved up.

"Itachi's minding them," she said, and seemed to enjoy the slight shock that filtered out onto his face. "How did I know you were going to ask that?" she said before Sasuke opened his mouth. "You and Itachi are more similar than either of you would like to admit."

At that, Sasuke's face clouded and he turned away, searching for two bowls, spoons and a tray. He ladled out his meal into the bowls, set one on the tray along with a spoon and left the other on the counter. "Harumi-san," he said after a moment's internal deliberation as to whether to call her by her name, or onee-sama, or oneesan. "Would you come with me to help Naruto?"

Harumi nodded. She got up and followed him to the bedroom without a word, somehow sensing that he didn't want to say anything. It rather unnerved him that she could read him almost as well as Naruto could. But thinking of her made him think of Itachi, and right now he didn't want to think about the unresolved mystery Itachi had brought with him. He had a feeling he didn't want to know the truth, not if the truth was bad enough that Itachi had to lie to him for years.

Inner Sasuke's eyes were whirling at the idea of Itachi minding children.

He forcefully shoved all those Itachi-related thoughts out of his head and knocked on the open door of his bedroom. "Naruto?" he called quietly. She was still on the bed, but at the sound of his voice she turned her head to the wall. Sasuke ignored the prick of hurt his heart felt at her action and walked into the room with Harumi following close behind. He set the tray on a small, low table that was by the foot of the bed and carried the whole thing to bed's head. "I've brought you some breakfast. I know you don't like vegetables, but they'll help with the healing, so just swallow them, alright?"

She didn't respond. Sasuke's chest exhaled heavily. "This is Harumi – she's Itachi's wife. She'll help you freshen up. I cooked something for you… I'll just leave it here. You have to eat it so you can take your medicines later. If you need help, I'm sure Harumi will be glad to help." With that, he caressed her cheek and straightened, informed Harumi in a low voice that she could find changes of clothes for Naruto in the wardrobe and left.

He just shook his head when Sakura heard him enter and turned around to look up hopefully at him, and went to get his own breakfast, only to realize that a significant portion of the porridge left in the pot had disappeared. He turned and scowled at Sakura, who grinned brightly at him and lifted _his_ bowl – now empty – for him to see.

"You make good porridge!"

* * *

Glossary-of-sorts

- Saiai: beloved

- Gogyou Fuuin: Five-point seal. It was the one Orochimaru used on Naruto during the chuunin exam. Sasuke used it last chapter (or was it chapter 17?) to seal the Kyuubi when Tenzou's (Yamato's) jutsu couldn't contain the Kyuubi's chakra.

- niisan: older brother

- oneesan: older sister. The 'o' in front means that it's more formal. Oneesama would be more respectful.

**The Author has More to Say:** Hope you enjoyed this chapter. You didn't think Naruto was just gonna wake up and fall into Sasuke's arms, did you? Nihihihi… I'm more evil than that, lol. _**Manga Spoilers!**_ Chapter 437! Can anybody say Hinata? Whoa… "Because I… love you." Whoa! And the 6-tailed mini-Kyuubi! Can't wait to see how Kishimoto-sensei resolves this!

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	20. Chapter 20

**The Author Says: **As usual, been busy. And I find I've been snacking quite a bit, too. At this rate, I'll probably be turning into Dave Hachiguchi from Yakitate! Japan – the really enormous guy who has to be transported by a whatdoyoucallit and only says "Busy, busy" all the time. Heh.

To those who reviewed: I read all of them, I promise. No time to reply last chapter, but I'll try my best to reply reviews to this chapter. I'm anticipating a bit of free time. And when I say a bit, I mean a really teensy bit. Sigh.

U/L: 20th March 2009.

* * *

**In That Moment**

By _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 20

* * *

**

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose in vexation.

Naruto was still not responding to him or anyone else, for that matter. She flinched when Harumi, Sakura, Tsunade, Shizune or Kakashi tried to touch her, but allowed contact when they approached slowly and the contact was brief. She had not eaten anything yesterday, only drinking from the glass of water Sasuke had left at the bedside, and only when he wasn't looking. She refused to eat her medicines, not that Sasuke or anyone else could force them down her throat, since they had to be taken after meals.

After Harumi had reported that Naruto hadn't eaten breakfast yesterday, Sakura had gone to see the blonde herself, then sent out for reinforcements in the form of Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi and Iruka. Naruto tolerated Iruka's touch a little more than the others', in that she only moved out of contact after a few seconds. The only person who could touch her without a negative response was Sasuke, but nothing he or anyone else said could get her to eat, or even look in their direction.

He had gone to the office this morning after a hardly sleeping at all last night to clear up some paperwork piled up in his office due to his absence, and was feeling tired, but still when he returned he had lifted her into a sitting position on the bed, and when he was sure she was leaning against the headrest comfortably, he sat on the bed and turned to face her. He folded one leg on the mattress in front of him and rested his left hand on it.

"Naruto," he said, looking directly at her though she was looking down listlessly at her hands, "what's wrong, saiai? You being so quiet, so… unresponsive… it's worrying me. And not me alone. Was it something I have said or done?"

The blonde just sighed and averted her eyes to her right, where her fingers were tracing patterns on the blanket. Sasuke wasn't to be discouraged.

"Love," he tried again. "Tell me what's wrong. Or even if you can't stand the sight of me and don't want to ever see me again," his voice faltered and his heart constricted painfully at that possibility, "at least eat something and get better."

He looked over at her hands and his mouth went dry when he realized the necklace he had given her was no longer wrapped around either hand. Bile rose quickly in his throat, but he forced it down. He clenched his jaw to force back a wave of emotion and swung his leg down again. "You know I love you, Naruto," he said in a quiet voice. His head hung low and he squeezed his eyes shut because of the burning feeling at the back of them. "And it pains me to see you neglecting your own health like this. If you're doing this to get back at me, just stop it. Get well, then I'll give you free rein to do what you think I deserve."

He stood, then slid to the floor and rested his head against the mattress in his usual position. "I need to sleep. There's porridge in the pot on the stove if you get hungry – even Sakura says my cooking is nice – then your medicine is on the kitchen table together with the instructions, and I've kept some tea in the fridge if you want it, but don't eat any ramen yet 'cause Tsunade said…" His voice became softer and softer, his eyes heavier and heavier, and he didn't even realize he never finished his sentence.

xxXXxxXXxx

He felt as if he was slowly floating out of the darkness into the light. He felt his head being rubbed, and if he could, he would have purred.

A few moments later, he realized that he was actually waking up from a good rest, his neck had a painful crick in it from being bent for so long at an awkward angle, and best of all, someone was running their fingers through his hair while using their blunt nails to lightly scrape his scalp. Sasuke felt the pleasure right down to his toes, and Inner Sasuke was a gooey lump on his mental floor from just how good it felt.

He didn't want the ministrations to stop, but he had to be sure. He forced his eyes open and looked up. "Naruto?" he croaked. Misty blue eyes stared at him with emotions swirling in them before they blinked and went blank. The fingers in his hair retreated lethargically. Sasuke forced himself awake and pushed himself to his knees, wincing as his neck twinged painfully. He staggered upright and sat heavily on the bed. Naruto, it seemed, hadn't moved from her sitting position that morning, and by the intensity of the sunlight, it was already late afternoon.

"Saiai," he said hoarsely. His throat was dry, but he didn't want to leave her side. Even in his sleepy haze he understood one thing: if Naruto was running her fingers through his hair, it meant she couldn't possibly hate him. His heart fluttered and became lighter and lighter though his brain had yet to catch up.

To his delight, instead of languidly ignoring him, she quickly turned her head away from his gaze. He took heart and leaned towards her, near enough to feel her breath on his nose. Just then, her stomach rumbled, and Sasuke chuckled. "I'll just go prepare some lunch… or dinner, probably," he said, and kissed her forehead before moving off the bed.

He tried not to allow his hopes to climb too high as he prepared a fresh pot of porridge. He didn't really know what brought about the change in Naruto's current attitude – _Very slight change,_ he reminded himself – but he didn't want to pin his entire hopes on it. She wasn't known as the number one most unpredictable ninja for nothing. He quickly finished cooking the porridge, scooped it out into two bowls and brought them into his bedroom.

It was fast approaching evening, so he set down the bowls and switched on the lights. He sat down on the bed near her. "Dinner's ready, love," he announced quietly, Inner Sasuke letting loose a sappy sigh at how much he loved calling her that. Naruto wouldn't look at him. Sasuke sighed and silently started eating his own porridge. Just as he was about halfway through, her stomach grumbled loudly again, but she just stubbornly kept her head down and her eyes on her hands.

Sasuke clenched his jaw, feeling frustrated and helpless at the same time. "Naruto," he said, looking at her, "please eat something. You need to get well."

She turned her head away from him and stared at where the bed met the wall. Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment, and in that moment, Inner Sasuke was struck with an idea that made him grin and leer at the same time. Sasuke forced the blush back, but acting on the idea before he lost his nerve, he quickly opened his eyes and shuffled his bum nearer to Naruto until he was sitting beside her, and when he twisted at his waist slightly he faced directly. He saw her stiffen a little, but ignored that.

Instead, he swallowed as best as he could to dry his mouth, then, with slightly trembling fingers, fed himself a spoonful of warm porridge and kept it in his mouth. Then, with those still slightly shaky fingers, he gently caught her chin and turned her head to face him, and, not giving her time to react, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

He kept his eyes open even though his heart was beating a mile a minute. He saw her beautiful blue eyes widen. He opened his mouth slightly to allow the porridge to touch her lips, and as he had anticipated – fervently hoped – her lips parted reflexively, and he opened his mouth wider and pushed the porridge into her slack mouth. He moulded his lips over hers and gently forced them shut, and then moved back and watched her with what he was sure was a blush on his cheeks.

He licked his lips and swallowed the bit of porridge left in his mouth as he watched her, hoping that she wouldn't have found what he'd just done disgusting. He'd only just realized that she might feel revolted by how he'd decided to force-feed her. His chest tightened nervously.

Naruto stared back at him in apparent shock, her eyes wide and staring right at him. Then, so slowly that his fists clenched involuntarily, her mouth moved and she swallowed. Inner Sasuke danced around, gloating at the fact that he got her to eat, and that he got to kiss her at the same time – conveniently forgetting that he'd promised himself not to kiss her on the lips until she allowed it. The mental apparition flopped to his mental floor, giggling as it replayed the memory and feel of his mouth over hers. Sasuke himself barely stopped Inner Sasuke's giggle from forming on his own lips.

He gave himself a mental shake and watched her swallow the mouthful. He let himself smirk, and saw her eyes narrow at that familiar expression of his.

"So," he said in a slightly husky voice, "are you going to eat or would you like me to continue to feed you?" He picked up her bowl and spoon and held them out to her. "Because I _definitely_ do not mind feeding you."

His smirk widened and he felt his chest lighten when her eyes widened then narrowed at his threat and she quickly grabbed the bowl and spoon and began eating. She had a sullen expression and her movements were rebellious, but Sasuke was just happy that she was eating. The unmistakeable tinge of red splashed across her face thrilled him, though.

When she was done, she put the bowl down hard on the bedside table. It clattered, but Sasuke didn't care. He smiled at her. Pink tinged her cheeks and she turned to the side to avoid his eyes. Then her stomach rumbled loudly.

Sasuke laughed softly, feeling relief flood his mind. "So," he said with a smug grin, "seconds?"

xxXXxxXXxx

She ate on her own after that, though she glared at him every time he handed her her bowl. He just smirked at her and sat down beside her to eat his own meal. She ate her medicines without fuss, though she did it sullenly. Sasuke would just smile at her, which earned him a glare he'd chuckle at each time.

Sakura had been delighted to see Naruto eating when she dropped by in the evening, and nearly hugged the blonde on impulse. It was only the way Naruto stiffened when she threw open her arms that stopped her from touching the blonde. Inner Sasuke stuck out his tongue at Sakura, childishly pleased that Naruto allowed only Sasuke to touch her.

He'd fallen asleep in his usual position, and when he woke up he'd decided not to go to the office this morning. Instead, he'd decided he wanted to pamper Naruto, to show her in actions as well as the words he'd been using that he loved her. He had told the absolute truth when he'd told her, as well as Tsunade, that he wanted to make it up to her for the rest of his life, and he'd figured that it wasn't too soon to start now.

After Harumi appeared in the morning to help Naruto, he went to the kitchen to prepare something for their breakfast. After porridge for the late lunch and dinner yesterday, he felt that Naruto would probably want something different for breakfast, so he pulled out the cereal his kage bunshin had bought yesterday, together with a carton of milk and a bowl and a spoon. Then he went to his bedroom and entered after knocking on the door. Harumi had Naruto dressed and ready. Sasuke nodded in thanks at her, and she left.

"Naruto," he said, walking to where she sat on the bed, leaning on the headboard, "I have breakfast for you in the kitchen. Do you think you can walk there?"

He hadn't meant it as a challenge, but she turned to him with a glare and her eyes flashed. Indignantly, she pushed herself off the bed and on to her feet, but after taking a few wobbly steps she stumbled and nearly collapsed. Sasuke quickly bent to catch her with an arm around her waist. Ignoring her scowl, he hooked his other arm under her knees and tenderly swung her up, and carried her to the kitchen bridal-style.

Naruto's cheeks flamed and she started struggling.

"Stop that," Sasuke told her sternly. "You might reopen your stomach injury." He adjusted his hold on her and walked down the corridor to the kitchen. "I'm not doing this to embarrass you; I'm doing this because you need help right now, and because I love you."

She stilled at that. Sasuke himself felt a rush of feelings at his admission, and pulled her closer to him. He couldn't resist the impulse to turn his head to hers and nuzzle her cheek. He kissed the top of her head and felt her stiffen, then curl a little into him.

He tightened his arms around her and carried her into the kitchen, and lowered her into her usual chair.

"I'll be back in a minute," he told her in a low voice, still feeling a little overcome by his emotions and the memory of the feel of her so close to him in his arms. "I just need to freshen up. Go ahead and start breakfast without me."

He went to the bathroom to get about his morning routine, then joined her for breakfast. It was quiet, but the silence was not oppressive. Sasuke for one never minded quiet, and it reminded him of their date, when they'd walked through the village and rested in the field quietly, just enjoying each other's presence. He did notice though, that while Naruto's face was devoid of expression, her eyes would slide over to him, as if she was trying to figure out his motive behind his niceness. He gave no indication that he'd noticed her movements.

When they were done he washed the dirty dishes and moved to carry her, but she stubbornly stood to her feet on her own. He sighed. "Would you like to go back to bed or to the living room?" he asked, feeling that she would probably be sick of the bedroom by now. She nodded when he mentioned the living room, so he slid a hand around her waist, for which she glared at him and he glared back, and supported her to his living room. She indicated she wanted to sit on the sofa, so he led her there and propped cushions behind her when she sat. Then he kissed her forehead, sat down in his armchair and started reading some scrolls – part of the backlog of work.

He hadn't realized when his eyes had slipped shut, but when he awoke with a jerk, there was one thing he realized at once: Naruto wasn't where he'd left her.

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**The Author has More to Say:** Nihihihi!! See, I'm so nice – I leave you with a mini-cliffie this chapter but I provide you the next chapter right away. XD

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	21. Chapter 21

**The Author Says:** This is the second chapter I've posted today, so if you haven't read Chapter 20 yet, click the back icon and read that one first :-)

U/L: 20th March 2009.

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**In That Moment**

By _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 21

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He opened his eyes and immediately realized that Naruto wasn't where he'd left her earlier. A tendril of worry crept into his mind as he rolled up the scroll and stood up.

"Naruto?" he called, not expecting a reply but listening for any tell-tale sounds that would point out to him where she was. "Naruto, love?"

She was repressing her chakra very effectively if she was still in the apartment, since he couldn't sense her at all. Slivers of panic started working their way into his thoughts. "Naruto, saiai?"

He knew the possibility of her managing to leave the apartment was very low, since he had an ANBU squad positioned around it. They would have noticed if she tried to leave. But then again, she'd fooled them every single time she'd snuck into Konoha before the battle a few days ago. "Naruto?!"

She wasn't in the kitchen – the first place he'd looked. She wasn't in the bedroom, and not in the bathroom either. After looking in the bathroom, Sasuke had effectively run out of rooms in which to look for the blonde. His heart started pounding in his chest.

"Naruto!" He couldn't lose her now, not after everything. It would be terribly ironic if she were to leave now when things were starting to get better, after all the effort they – Sasuke – had put in to bring her back in the first place.

He quickly backtracked to the kitchen and opened the window, intent on calling the ANBU to flay them alive for letting Naruto escape under their noses when a flash of yellow caught his eye. A stab of hope shot through his heart and he leaned out the window and craned his neck towards where he'd seen the colour, and there, to his immense relief, was Naruto.

She was sitting on a stone bench on the tiny balcony that was accessible from a door tucked in a forgotten corner in his kitchen. The balcony had originally been intended for hanging out laundry to dry in the sun, and Sasuke had noted the door that was partially-disguised as part of the shelving when he'd first moved in, because every shinobi worth their chakra noted all entry and exit points in a room or building. He'd never set foot out there, though, so he had quite forgotten about it.

He strode across the kitchen and grabbed the handle of the hidden door, opened it and sagged against the doorjamb.

"Naruto," he half-sighed and half-growled. "Didn't you hear me call you? You had me worried."

She lethargically turned her head away from him to face the other direction. He bit his cheek to stop himself from blurting out something caustic, and instead just leaned against the doorjamb and watched her.

She had regained most of her colour, and no longer looked so pale. She must still be tired, Sasuke thought, because she was leaning rather heavily against the wall. He hoped she hadn't fallen when she'd made her way here. He sighed silently and watched the way the sunlight highlighted the beautiful gold of her hair.

A few minutes into his daydreams, an ANBU member appeared and dropped to one knee in front of them both.

"Rokudaime-sama, Namikaze-sama," he barked out. Sasuke straightened and nodded, business-like, while Naruto mulishly kept her head averted. The ANBU operative continued. "Godaime-sama sends her compliments, and requests that Rokudaime-sama and Namikaze-sama be available for a meeting in thirty minutes."

Sasuke wondered what the meeting was about – he knew Tsunade wasn't the type to bother with anything that wasn't important. He nodded at the ANBU operative. "My compliments to the Godaime, and let her know we will be there."

The ANBU operative nodded respectfully and disappeared. Sasuke turned to Naruto. "Would you like something to eat? You must be hungry since it's mid-afternoon, and the last we ate was in the morning."

She persisted in looking away, so with a loud sigh Sasuke looped his arms around her and lifted her up, and carried her back into the apartment. She started struggling initially, but after one wince – _probably because of the pain from her stomach wound,_ Sasuke thought – she stopped. She looked away from him, glaring furiously at nothing in particular. Sasuke assumed she was going to pointedly ignore him for some time, based on how angry she looked, but he hadn't anticipated her reaction once he lowered her into a kitchen chair.

"I'll cook something for us to eat, alright, love?" he'd said, then she'd exploded.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" she shouted. He'd turned his back, and at the sound of her voice he whirled around. "Why do you keep calling me that, and why are you doing all this?!"

Sasuke stared at her, wondering if he hadn't made his motives clear enough. "Because you need to get better, and because I love you, like I said."

She stood to her feet and gripped the back of her chair with one hand for support. She glared at him angrily. "Stop saying that! Stop saying that… Stop saying things you don't mean!"

Sasuke snapped to attention and looked at her intensely across the table. She faltered a little. "Why do you think I don't mean it? You know me – I don't say things I don't mean. If I keep saying I love you, it's because I mean it. I. Love. You."

A look of confusion, hope and hurt passed over her features. "You couldn't possibly mean that!" she cried. "Not after… not after I…"

"Not after you what?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not after I… the things I said and did that night!"

Sasuke folded his arms and gave her a half-grin with a tinge of sadness in it. "That night… I still remember the things you said—"

"Then why do you keep saying you… you lo… _that_!"

"I haven't finished!" Sasuke snapped. "What I am saying is that I still remember the things you said, and I also remember how it was right after the Kyuubi was contained after the battle. You couldn't have meant what you said that night. I can't be absolutely sure, but I think you were trying to get me to hate you for some reason or other." From the way she bit her lip and looked away, he was pretty sure that was why she'd said those hurtful things, but as to why she'd wanted him to hate her, he couldn't begin to fathom.

"I am very sure, though," he continued, "that you didn't mean what you said."

She flared up. "What if I did mean what I said? What if I hate that I'm back in Konoha? What if I hate being here right now?" she gritted out.

Sasuke graced her with a level stare. "I would say that _I. don't. believe. you_." He smirked at her, and watched her colour rise at his next words. "In fact, I think it's quite the opposite. I think you had and still have feelings for me, too."

His expression told her to deny it if she dared, and became smug when she couldn't meet his eyes, and red started to suffuse her cheeks. He felt his chest and limbs become so light at that indirect admission that he couldn't stop a smile from forming on his lips. "I love you, Naruto," he told her simply.

"Stop saying that," she said in a pleading tone, and slid into the chair. She put her elbows on the table and cradled her forehead in her palms. "Stop saying that. You can't possibly mean it."

Feeling concerned, Sasuke quietly walked over and knelt beside her. He took both of her unresisting hands in his, and leaned his forehead against hers. Her eyes were closed, and she looked tired. "I meant it when I said it that night, and I mean it when I say it now. I love you, Naruto. I want to feed you and take care of you and protect you. I know I've hurt you before, and like I've said – I want to make it up to you for the rest of my life. I want to be with you for the rest of my life."

He felt her hands tremble as he lifted them and kissed her fingers softly. For a long time she trembled quietly, then, seeming to draw resolve from somewhere, she lifted her head and took her hands out of his. She looked him directly in the eye with a resolute, almost hard look and asked, "For the rest of your life… does this mean you want to marry me? You want us to get married?"

To be honest, the word 'marriage' had never crossed Sasuke's mind, but as it dropped from Naruto's lips, he found he didn't mind it. He didn't see it as a binding burden, or putting his neck in a noose, or whatever other sayings men usually came up with to compare marriage to. If marriage was what allowed him to keep Naruto by his side, then he was all for it. "Yes," he answered without hesitation.

Her eyes became even more determined. "Then prove that you… you l-love me that much. Marry into the Namikaze and take on my name," she said softly, but in a stony tone.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "What?" he blurted out, almost stumbling back in surprise.

"That is my condition. If you want me to marry you, you will marry into the Namikaze family and take on my family name instead." With that she looked away and folded her hands on her lap.

Dazedly, Sasuke rose to his feet and leaned against the counter behind him. Her ultimatum caught him by surprise, and for all that he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life, he… his ambition had been to resurrect the Uchiha clan. To marry into her family instead… in all honesty, that wasn't something he'd ever thought of doing, nor did it appeal to him… he'd have to think about it first – his cherished ambition, or Naruto. It wasn't a choice he'd ever imagined he'd have to make.

He was reeling from the shock Naruto's ultimatum had caused, and almost missed the bitter, barely-whispered, "I knew it."

He looked sharply at the blonde, but her head was bowed and her hair curtained her face, concealing her expressions from him. He didn't, couldn't reply to that at this point. It was one thing to know without a doubt that he loved her, but to be asked to give up his clan name...

He kneaded his forehead with his knuckles and remembered the meeting Tsunade had requested in about fifteen minutes' time, so he put aside those confusing thoughts to be examined later. He drew a deep, silent breath and started looking for a pot to boil water in. While the water was boiling, he opened his cupboard and took out three cups of instant ramen, and, when the water had boiled, poured the hot water into the cups and set two of them down in front of the quiet blonde, together with a pair of chopsticks. He made sure that one of the cups was miso ramen.

She looked up in surprise, and he gave her a weak smile. "I know you're hungry, and who knows how long the meeting would take. I know you're not supposed to be eating ramen yet, but I won't tell Tsunade if you won't."

Naruto stared at him with a wary, unsure look before starting to eat. After a moment of watching her, he started eating as well.

xxXXxxXXx

When they shunshin-ed into Tsunade's office, Naruto was still glaring at him for carrying her after she'd vehemently protested that she'd be able to do it herself. Sasuke had just scooped her up in the midst of her spiel, glared at her, and shunshin-ed the both of them.

Naruto shot him one last glare and turned her head to the side, her cheeks burning. Sasuke smirked at her, then at the somewhat dumfounded faces of Tsunade, Jiraiya and Itachi. Well, Itachi didn't have much of an expression, but the raised eyebrow was a good indicator of his surprise.

Tsunade cleared her throat. "Well. Put her in the chair over there, then, Uchiha, and let me examine her. You say she's started to eat? Has she been taking her medicines?"

Sasuke put her gently down in the indicated chair so as not to jar her healing injury and kissed her forehead before straightening, blithely ignoring her glare. He gave short answers to Tsunade's questions and stepped back as the blonde Hokage stooped to examine Naruto. He snagged the nearest chair and set it beside Naruto's, and sat.

"You're healing fine, Naruto," Tsunade concluded with a fond look. "Your friends are clamouring to see you, but I didn't think you'd want any visitors just yet. Konohamaru has been quite persistent, though, so don't be surprised if he appears at your doorstep one day."

Naruto looked at her for a moment before averting her eyes. Sasuke saw Tsunade bite back a sigh and return to her desk. Jiraiya was sitting beside Tsunade, his left shoulder wrapped up in bandages and very obviously lacking an arm. Sasuke wasn't sure what the story behind that was – he hadn't inquired about the Sannin nor been briefed about his time in Amegakure just yet. The man was looking at Naruto with stormy eyes and mixed expressions of fondness and regret, but he held his tongue. Sasuke realized he hadn't so much as remembered the man during the last few days, but couldn't be bothered to feel remorse about it.

The chairs Sasuke and Naruto occupied were beside Tsunade's desk, and facing the same direction as Tsunade's and Jiraiya's. Sitting straight in his chair facing them was Itachi. A tight feeling started to develop in Sasuke's gut, and his jaw started to clench a little.

"Uchiha, Naruto," Tsunade began in a more official voice, "Uchiha Itachi has been summoned today to debrief us on Mission 25272, commissioned by the Sandaime Hokage 13 years ago." Sasuke stiffened when the significance of the number of years registered in his mind. "He has requested that the both of you be present for this debriefing."

The Godaime nodded at Itachi and settled back in her chair, leaning her elbows on the armrests and steepling her fingers. Itachi nodded respectfully, and his dark solemn gaze landed on Sasuke.

"Godaime-sama, Rokudaime-sama, Jiraiya-sama, Naruto-kun," he began, "I will begin the debriefing at the very beginning of the mission – the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre."

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**The Author has More to Say:** Manga Spoilers!! Has anyone read chapter 440?!! KYAAAAAAA!! It's Namikaze Minato! It's a total Yondy!Daddy moment! And it was totally over much too soon! Uwaa!

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	22. Chapter 22

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The Author Says:

Hey guys! I know it's been a hecka long time, but I've been really, really busy. I'm really trying to finish writing ITI, but it's hard going, what with lack of time and inspiration. Motivation isn't so much a problem, believe me. All I have to do is think of all of you and I have all the motivation I need. Sigh… Oh, and please refer to my profile for an announcement-notification thingy.

This chapter is more of an explanation. It's a big spoiler for those of you who don't follow the manga. I've tweaked it a little here and there so that it fits my fic better, but the main gist is still the same. Believe it or not, I'd pegged Itachi as a good guy even before Kishimoto's revelation! Hihihi. The circumstances were slightly different, though. Glad to know my instincts were right! Itachi-sama!

U/L: 23rd September 2009.

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**In That Moment**

By _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 22**

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Sasuke hadn't realized when he had begun to clench his fists so hard. He hadn't even realized that he had one of Naruto's hands in his, and that her other hand was rubbing comforting circles on the back of the hand gripping hers. His knuckles were turning white, but Naruto gave no sign of pain except for a slight downward twist to her lips.

He stared with wild eyes at Itachi, who met his gaze for a moment, then looked away with what Sasuke identified as guilt and sorrow etched on his face. From the moment Itachi had stopped talking, all Sasuke could hear was a ringing sound in his ears.

Itachi had described how the Uchiha, led by their father Uchiha Fugaku, had become more and more dissatisfied with their clan's position in Konoha. They had felt that the Uchiha were being corralled in the village under the veneer of the Konoha Military Police. The Uchiha, who were co-founders of Konoha along with the Senju – Tsunade's clan – were forced into one corner of Konoha, grandly called the Uchiha Compound, and were kept under careful watch by the Hokage.

Uchiha Madara, leader of the Uchiha at the time of Konoha's conception, had tried to instigate the Uchiha to fight for equal ruling rights, but as they had just ended the First Great Shinobi War, none of the clan had been inclined to begin what would ultimately end in a civil war. Madara had left Konoha in disgust, swearing revenge against Konoha and the Senju. The Shodai had gone after him and tried to reason with the Uchiha to come back, but their confrontation ended in a battle that split the land they were fighting on into two, thus bringing about the formation of the Valley of the End. Madara had been presumed dead.

The Uchiha eyes – the Sharingan – had the power to subdue bijuu, and in particular, the Kyuubi. During his time in the Akatsuki, Madara had often boasted to Itachi about how he'd kept the Kyuubi as a pet, and how he'd been able to command the demon with the power of his doujutsu. Most importantly, he'd also claimed responsibility for the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha nearly twenty one years ago.

Unrest among the Uchiha had arisen again after the Kyuubi's attack. Whispers of dissention spread throughout the clan, and somehow managed to reach the Sandaime's ears. The old man had known that the best way to fight fire was with fire, so to speak, so he'd placed a spy among the Uchiha – one of their own; their beloved prodigy Uchiha Itachi.

Itachi had actually been commanded to spy on Konoha for the Uchiha, since his position in the ANBU afforded him much intelligence on the village's plans and secrets. But Itachi was unquestionably loyal to Konoha, and was smart enough to know that coup d'états led to civil war. Having experienced the remnants of the Third Great Shinobi War at an early age, Itachi had been sickened by the sight of gruesome and useless deaths, and had agreed to be the Sandaime's pawn.

Finally, having enough evidence, the Council had ordered the death of the Uchiha rebels. They knew that the only people in Konoha who could stand up to Uchiha were Uchiha and so had ordered Itachi to wipe out the entire clan. The Sandaime had protested against the course of action the Council wanted but was overruled and, in the end, agreed reluctantly. Itachi himself agonized over the decision before agreeing to do it. The only condition he'd begged the Sandaime for on bended knee was that Sasuke be spared – both of death and the shame that the Uchiha were planning to become traitors.

When he had his promise, Itachi had sought out Uchiha Madara, whom he'd sensed on one of his ANBU missions. No one else knew of the man's existence. Itachi had known that he couldn't eliminate the Uchiha on his own, and requested the help of his ancestor, who named Itachi's entry into Akatsuki as his payment for his assistance. Itachi had reported the encounter to the Sandaime, as well as the goals of Akatsuki that Madara had boasted about. The Sandaime had immediately seen the potential of having a man inside the fledgling organization, and had incorporated Itachi's secondary duties into his mission's demands: to infiltrate Akatsuki, and keep the Kyuubi out of their hands at all costs.

So Itachi had wiped out the Uchiha, left Sasuke behind and fled Konoha. When the Sandaime had been killed he'd returned to remind the Council of their promise to maintain Sasuke's innocence on the threat of Konoha's secrets being spread across the Elemental Nations. Then had come Sasuke's defection to Orochimaru and his subsequent return to Konoha, and Naruto's disappearance from the village.

The Leader himself had caught Naruto in the mountainous region near Iwa where she'd decided to hide, after many failed capture attempts by the members. It went without saying that Itachi had always subtly botched any attempts he'd been part of, so as to keep Naruto safe while not drawing suspicion to himself. Madara's patience had grown thin, however, and he had sent the Leader himself to capture Naruto. Itachi had managed to foil the extraction in such a way that couldn't be blamed on, much less suspected of him. Naruto had unfortunately had to endure the torture that was the initial part of the extraction process, and it was at the end of this that her gender-concealment seal had broken.

Madara had decided to keep Naruto alive, since it was obvious they couldn't extract the Kyuubi without killing her, and thus losing the bijuu by her death. So Naruto had been allowed to live while Pain and Madara researched methods of breaking her seal. They had been very thorough, and their studies had taken years – in between other 'missions' and jobs they did.

Itachi had been placed in charge of the blonde on the grounds that they were both formerly of Konoha. And so Itachi had taken care of Naruto and protected her as much as he could, while deciding to withhold the information on the blonde's whereabouts from Jiraiya, his Konoha contact. His rationale had been that as long as Akatsuki had a vested interest in keeping Naruto whole until they could crack the seal, both Konoha and Naruto herself would be safe, unlike if Konoha shinobi were to stage a rescue attempt.

So he had kept Naruto's presence a secret from Jiraiya's spy network, and Madara had ordered through Pain that for Akatsuki's benefit, the jinchuuriki's presence be concealed from the world at large, too. Itachi had used that time to concoct plan after plan on how to keep Naruto safe and return her to Konoha, but the blonde strangely never wanted to return to the village. He couldn't pry too much without knowing Naruto's thoughts and then-current loyalties and exposing his position as double-agent, so he had played it by ear, until Madara, giving up on cracking the Yondaime's seal, had ordered Pain to order Naruto to retrieve the Forbidden Scroll from the Hokage's Library.

Sasuke had foiled the first attempt, but the second had been successful. Naruto had handed over the scroll to the Leader without comment. Jiraiya had snuck into Amegakure but ran into Pain's intruder alarm jutsu. Pain had ruthlessly taken care of the Sannin and ordered the assembly of the Akatsuki members to begin the extraction. Naruto had not shown a single reaction to the news of Jiraiya's fate, but as soon as the remaining Akatsuki members had gathered in the cavern they used for extractions, Naruto had released a significant amount of the Kyuubi's chakra and effectively went berserk. Itachi knew that he wouldn't have been able to handle the situation on his own, and had sent to Konoha for reinforcements, which lead up to the battle that day and the safe return of Jiraiya, Naruto and the Forbidden Scroll.

Sasuke closed his eyes.

The entire story was incredible, and was it not for the mission request Tsunade had managed to produce that had the mission's details and the Sandaime's seal, just as Itachi had described, he would have accused Itachi of manufacturing the whole fantasy.

His entire body trembled with suppressed emotions and broiling thoughts. He needed… he needed to be alone. He needed to sort his thoughts. He needed to re-evaluate Itachi's place in his life again. He needed to think over Naruto's condition for marriage.

He squeezed his eyes harder and forced himself to take discreet, deep breaths to prevent panic from settling in. Abruptly, his eyes shot open and he released Naruto's hand, and stood, all in one fluid motion. With a meaningful nod in Itachi's direction – it scared him how he still managed to connect with Itachi, that the man could understand what he wanted by just one small gesture, and that he knew that Itachi had understood him – he turned on his heel after receiving Itachi's acquiescing nod and strode to the window, opened it and hopped out.

Ignoring Naruto's alarmed call, he shunshin-ed to a place where he'd discovered was calming and peaceful enough for him to think over things rationally. He'd first discovered it after learning of Naruto's parentage, and had decided to sit on top of the stone embodiment of Naruto's father's head and look out over the village. It had calmed him then, and he was sure it would calm him now.

A cool gust of wind greeted him; one that promised rain in the near future. Without opening his eyes, he settled between two spikes of the Yondaime's hair and sagged bonelessly against the rock, allowing the tension to flow out of his limbs. He felt his confused thoughts begin to calm and form rational trains, and when he felt able enough, he started examining them.

Itachi... on the one hand, he'd confessed to killing the Uchiha clan. But he'd done it on the Hokage's – the Council's – orders. But Sasuke had been able to look underneath the underneath; he'd been able, for once, to hear what Itachi hadn't said with words – Itachi had killed the Uchiha to protect Sasuke. Had anyone else been commanded to carry out the mission, Sasuke, innocent boy that he'd been at eight years old, would have been cold-bloodedly killed along with the rest of the traitorous Uchiha.

He didn't know how he knew it, but he was sure – the major reason why Itachi had even agreed to the mission was to keep Sasuke safe. While Itachi had been serious about preventing a civil war, he had been dead serious about his role as Sasuke's elder brother, and had wanted to protect him the way their parents had never done. A sob gurgled in his chest and his throat constricted. A hot, stinging feeling spread along the backs of his eyes.

Itachi, for all the rubbish he had spouted about testing his strength, for all the facades he had had to put up in front of the world, loved Sasuke enough to face revulsion by his comrades, friends, and the shinobi world in general. He had done the deed, and left Sasuke alive because of his love for his little brother, and the fact that he wanted to die by Sasuke's hand. Sasuke could tell that _that_ part of Itachi's spiels had not been faked. He couldn't imagine the self-loathing, Sasuke's hatred, the fear and repulsion in the eyes of others that Itachi had had to endure for so many years.

Tears streamed down his face despite his attempt to hold them back, and he bit hard on his knuckles to keep the wails from escaping his throat. He recalled with shame and sorrow the way Itachi would ask him, every time they met, what Sasuke could see with his Sharingan. It was as if Itachi had hoped that Sasuke would somehow see the truth, and Itachi would be spared of Sasuke's hatred.

Sasuke's body shook hard at the force of his sobs. He realized, with heavy regret, that if only he had seen the truth, or at the very least doubted the facts enough to search for answers, so much sorrow and hurt and pain could have been avoided. He might not have left for Otogakure. He probably wouldn't have punched through Naruto's chest. Naruto wouldn't have left the village and had to endure to horror of the failed extraction process.

The rational side of him told him that he had only been eight at that time, and the idea to doubt what he'd seen with his own eyes was too far advanced for most eight year olds, and had certainly been too advanced for his mental capabilities at that time. Sasuke couldn't dismiss that truth, and the fact that Itachi would have known that as well. Slowly his sobs began to abate. He took deep breaths to calm himself.

It wouldn't do any good to indulge in self-pity and self-blame right now. He knew Naruto wouldn't blame him. He knew Itachi certainly did not blame him for anything. If anything, the blame should have fallen on the root from which the whole problem stemmed – Shodai Hokage and Uchiha Madara. He of course did not know what the circumstances were at that time, but whatever foolishness the founders of Konoha had committed had been visited on this generation. On Itachi, Naruto, and Sasuke.

He squeezed the last of the tears out of his eyes and took deep breaths. It wouldn't do to blame anyone now, or to allow himself to hate those long-dead – or in Madara's case, recently dead – men. He'd had enough of hatred. He'd almost killed his then-best friend because of his misguided hatred for his brother. He certainly wasn't about to prance through Konoha announcing the Springtime of Love or any such idiocy, but he'd had enough of hatred.

Slowly, he opened his eyes. The sky was overcast, and in the distance outside Konoha he could see lightning flashing. It was almost symbolic – the rain coming to wash away the stains of the past, allowing them to begin afresh.

Then he snorted to himself at how sappy that sounded, and managed to crack a small grin. Naruto would have laughed in his face for even thinking that, probably.

xxxXXxxXXxx

Sasuke paused a few metres away from _that_ door.

His hand holding the paper shopping bag gripped it tighter. His nervousness caused butterflies to swarm around in his stomach, and he bit the inside of his lip as he tried to decide whether he really wanted to go there. To talk to him.

He'd come down from the Hokage Monument with a sense of urgency; he wanted to see Itachi again, he wanted to talk to him, to seek his advice, to make sure he was alright; he wanted his aniki back.

He'd almost gone to the Hokage Tower to get Itachi's current address, but he remembered Harumi describing their new house when she'd talked about her children. Sasuke was glad; he'd rather not go back to the office in case people asked questions – he didn't want to answer anything yet, not until he talked to Itachi first. He'd go there only if Itachi wasn't home.

He had made his way to the housing area he recognized from Harumi's description and decided he could certainly pick up on Itachi's chakra signature and find the house without much trouble. On the way here, he'd passed by a row of shops, and somehow he'd stopped short in front the display window of a toy store. A large stuffed shuriken sitting there had caught his attention; he vaguely remembered having a soft toy that looked quite like that when he had been seven. A gift from someone, he couldn't remember who.

Before he realized it he found himself in the toy store itself, looking at a rack of soft toy animals that just screamed 'hug me!', wondering which Itachi's children would like. And the next thing he knew, he was here, five metres away from Itachi's door, shopping bag bearing the toy store logo in hand.

His feet were stuck to the ground. Nervousness and uncertainty had suddenly flooded his mind. Would Itachi even want to see him? Would Itachi want to talk to him? Would Itachi close the door in his face?

He gave himself a mental slap and forced his feet forward. He was just being cowardly if he were to turn and run away a mere handful of steps away from his brother. He'd never been afraid of anything since he'd trained with Orochimaru, and facing his brother after learning the truth would be... not quite a piece of cake, but not exactly the end of the world, either.

He took a deep breath and knocked firmly on the wooden door.

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**The Author has More to Say:** Hope I didn't put you to sleep with the long explanation. Enjoy the next chapter! I uploaded it at the same time as this one.

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


	23. Chapter 23

**The Author Says:** This is the second chapter I've uploaded today. Read Chapter 22 if you haven't done so yet! ;-)

U/L: 23rd September 2009.

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**In That Moment**

By _TooDarnLazy_

**Chapter 23**

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He knocked on the front door of Itachi's house, and stepped back to wait. He didn't have to wait long; in less than half a minute the door opened to reveal Itachi himself with Eri sitting on his shoulders and Aiko in his arms. The girls were giggling about something.

"Rokudaime-sama," Itachi greeted in the kind of distantly-polite tone one used to greet someone of higher rank they weren't too familiar with. Sasuke hid a flinch at that tone. Aiko turned around in her father's arms to face Sasuke, and the second she spied him a large smile curved her mouth and she waved enthusiastically.

"Sasuke-jichan!" she said cheerfully. Eri echoed her sister as enthusiastically.

"He is the Rokudaime Hokage, daughters," Itachi gently corrected his children. "You are to address him as Rokudaime-sama."

"Hai!" Aiko replied, and giggled into Itachi's t-shirt front. Eri looked puzzled.

"Sasuke-jichan!" the younger girl persisted. Itachi opened his mouth to reprimand her, but Sasuke cleared his throat quietly. The older man's eyes moved back to him and nodded.

"Please come in, Rokudaime-sama. I'm afraid we have nothing much in our home yet, but we're grateful that Godaime-sama provided us this house." Itachi stepped back from the doorway and waited for Sasuke to pass through before closing the door and leading the way to his living room. Once there, he called Harumi and when his wife appeared, he set his girls down and told them to follow their mother. Harumi smiled and bowed a little at Sasuke, who nodded back, then turned to leave with two pouting girls trailing behind her.

Sasuke remembered the bag in his hand and quickly held it out to Itachi. "I, err, got something for your children... I'm not sure if they already have something like this, or whether they'd like it or not..."

The older man just stood there quietly, looking searchingly at Sasuke's face, making the younger have to squash the urge to turn away or avert his eyes. After a few moments, Itachi nodded with a softer expression. Instead of taking the bag from Sasuke's outstretched hand, however, he turned a little and called his daughters.

"Aiko, Eri. Rokudaime-sama has brought something for you."

Aiko pivoted with a grin on her face that looked out of place on her Uchiha features. Eri turned around as well, but by the time she actually faced Sasuke, Aiko had already reached the safety of her father's legs, whose pants she clutched on to. Eri toddled over to stand beside her sister and peeked out from behind Itachi's other leg. Itachi let out a soft sound of exasperation.

"My apologies, Rokudaime-sama. My girls are rather shy; they have not had much contact with other people." He bent a little at the waist and gently pushed his daughters forward with a hand on their backs.

Sasuke crouched onto one knee rather awkwardly, feeling a like he was a genin again, and had to re-capture a particularly jumpy pet. He forced his lips into a small smile, hoping it didn't come out as a grimace, and reached into his bag.

"Hi," he said softly, and held out the toys he'd bought. He'd gotten them soft toys; the shuriken that reminded him of his own long-lost toy, a pillow in the shape of a flower, and an orange single-tailed fox. Sasuke had been rather surprised to see the fox sitting on the shelf, grinning at him from amongst the other stuffed animals. "These are for you."

Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, Eri was the one to toddle out first, her eyes riveted to the brightly-coloured flower. She reached out and took the toy from Sasuke without even looking at him, and pushed her nose into the middle of the flower and giggled. Seeing her sister holding the toy, Aiko shyly shuffled up to Sasuke.

"I like the fox, Sasuke-jichan," she informed him with a hopeful grin. Sasuke felt affection start to bubble up in his chest for the little girl and her younger sister, and his smile came easily. He held out the fox to his eldest niece, who took it and hugged it immediately. "Thank you, Sasuke-jichan," she said with a little bow, then jabbed her sister with her little elbow. "Say thank you to Sasuke-jichan, Eri-chan!"

Eri dragged her eyes away from her new toy and glanced fleetingly, almost dismissively at Sasuke and mumbled a quick thank you. Sasuke smiled and held out the shuriken to Aiko. "You are very welcome, Aiko, Eri. Give this to you otouto, alright?"

Aiko nodded obediently, and pulled her sister away after taking the toy shuriken from Sasuke. The girls ran back to their mother, brandishing the toys in her face and telling her how their Sasuke-jichan had given them the toys, and that there was even one for Kazuo-chan. Harumi raised grateful eyes to Sasuke, who just smiled a little in response. The Uchiha matron gathered her girls with one hand while holding onto her son in the other arm and shepherded them away from the room. Sasuke stood to face Itachi.

"You did not have to, Rokudaime-sama. My thanks." Itachi raised an arm. "This way, if you would please."

Sasuke followed him and sat himself on the cushion on opposite Itachi with the kotatsu between them. Thus seated, a rather awkward silence descended as Sasuke began to feel nervous again. He spent a few moments regulating his breathing while keeping his eyes on Itachi, who looked placidly back at him, waiting for him to begin.

"Itachi," Sasuke forced himself to start. "Why'd… what… why'd you… I…" He winced at his stumbling words, and forced himself to take a breath. He tried again, "Why did you do that?"

There was no need to explain what 'that' was. Itachi's shoulders seemed to slump a little and his eyes, while still trained on Sasuke's, couldn't seem to hold back some pain and hesitance.

"For the safety of the village. For your safety."

Sasuke shook his head. "No, I meant, why did you tell me you were testing your capabilities? Why not reveal the whole truth? I would have understood." A bit of hurt leaked out into his tone.

The corners of Itachi's lips pulled back into a small smile that was at once fond and sad. "Rokudaime-sama—"

"Don't call me that!" Sasuke snapped, then softened his tone. "You and I… please don't call me that, Itachi."

There was a short pause as Itachi regarded him with searching eyes again. "Very well, Sasuke," he said, and Sasuke felt a little bubble of something very like happiness at the sound of his name. "As I was saying…" he paused again, his frame stiffening a little, "That night… it was not my proudest moment. I had just killed many people I never would have wanted to raise a hand against otherwise, and once my part was done I returned to our house." Itachi's voice started to lower in volume and speed though his face was expressionless. "Madara had already disposed of Father and Mother. I had been sure that you would not return just yet, so I was pulling out the katana Madara had left in Father's chest when you came in. It was a testament to my frame of mind that I did not sense you until you were just outside the door. I called to you to remain outside, but stubborn boy that you were, you persisted in coming in."

Itachi drew a breath that was a little shaky, Sasuke noted, before he continued.

"It was all I could do to hold back my own emotions. The mission was such that I was to take the blame, and the circumstances were singularly perfect for you to be able to pin the blame on me as an eyewitness. I had not counted on, not wanted for you to see me, ideally, but since you had seen me, standing over Father's and Mother's bodies no less, you naturally questioned why I did what I seemed to have done. My mouth ran ahead of me, I'm afraid, and I came up with the excuse that I wanted to test my capabilities. I even told you about the secret room beneath the shrine before I could stop myself. I had to flee then, before I started to reveal more, so I ran. You were able to catch up with me, and I know that when your shuriken sliced my hitai-ate – ironically, you were using the style I had taught you – and I had to re-tie it, you saw my tears. I had to use my Sharingan to blur that particular section of your memory, as it would have contradicted with the image of a cold-blooded prodigy only interested in his own capabilities. So after you collapsed I had to run, as Konoha nin were starting to appear at the Compound's gates. I joined Madara in the forest outside Konoha, and from then on my life in the Akatsuki began."

Sasuke watched as Itachi paused for a moment. He felt his own throat start to tighten, his emotions were starting to roil again, and he could feel Itachi's emotional upheaval despite his expressionless face and steady voice. It was one thing to deliver a report during a debriefing, Sasuke knew, and it was another to confess to you little brother how you effectively ruined his life.

"I did not tell you the truth behind the incident… I wanted to spare you the folly and shame of the would-be traitorous Uchiha. And you were still young and idealistic then. All you strived for was Father's and my affection and approval. I know that Father never paid you much attention until I began spying on the clan and distancing myself from them. I suspect he would have started to train you as heir, to switch your focus from me to him and brainwash you with the creed of the clan. When Father started paying more attention to you I knew my time was running short and I had to act before you were turned into the clan's puppet. But not a day goes by that I…"

Sasuke's eyes had started to lower, and as Itachi's voice trailed off, he lifted his gaze from his own hands folded in his lap to Itachi's face. Itachi was looking down, and looked as if his throat had tightened and cut off his words.

"Please continue, Itachi," Sasuke said in a voice barely above a whisper. He half-suspected what Itachi was going to say, but he still needed to hear it.

Itachi didn't look up. "Not a day…" he repeated in a hoarse whisper. "Not a day goes by that I don't regret hurting you so badly. I regret the Uchiha Massacre, but only because of its effect on you. I regret my foolish words at that time, and how I had to keep hurting you each time we met. Not a day goes by that I don't wait for you to be finally ready to kill me; the only way I could atone for what I had done to you…"

Sasuke watched in startled fascination as a few crystal tears dripped from Itachi's lashes. His own eyes felt warm and wet, and his throat constricted with sobs that wanted to force him to blubber like a girl. He swallowed his sobs and discreetly swiped the back of his hands over his eyes.

Itachi looked up, his eyes red, but not from the Sharingan. Before he could say anything, though, Harumi appeared and kneeled by his side, setting a tray down on the kotatsu. She silently set out two teacups and a steaming teapot. However, before she poured the tea, she took a small paper packet from her sleeve, unfolded it, and shook the greenish powder it contained into one teacup. That done, she poured the tea and set the cup containing the plain tea in front of Sasuke and the other one in Itachi's outstretched hand.

"Anata, it's time for your medication," she said softly. Itachi nodded.

"Please excuse me for a moment, Sasuke," he said, and drained the tea. The slight wrinkling around his eyes as he did so was the only sign of his distaste for the medication. Harumi settled by her husband's side, and after putting the teacup back onto the kotatsu, he curled his arm around hers. Sasuke couldn't see to be sure, but it seemed like Itachi was holding onto Harumi's hand.

"I understand your wish to avenge the Uchiha," Itachi resumed quietly. "I beg your grace in this matter; please allow me to train my children to defend themselves and their mother. The moment Kazuo is able to do so, I will submit myself to you, to do as you please." Itachi released his wife's hand, stood up, then suddenly bent smoothly down onto his knees and bowed with his fingers arranged in front of his head, which was touching the ground. Harumi had also bowed down as low as she could from her kneeling position earlier.

Sasuke's eyes went wide and his mouth suddenly felt drier than the inside of the Kazekage's gourd. Did Itachi actually still expect Sasuke to want to kill him? And Itachi was actually willing to be killed by Sasuke? And Harumi actually agreed with the whole thing? It was ridiculous, and Sasuke quickly rose a little, half-rising from his seiza position with his palms on the surface of the KOTATSU for support.

"Itachi! Harumi! Get off the floor," he said, sounding and feeling a little panicky. It left a bad taste in his mouth to see his brother and sister-in-law on their knees to him like that. "Get up!"

Itachi and his wife rose slowly, Itachi helping Harumi up.

Sasuke could only marvel at what a change his life had been through; just a week ago he wouldn't even have granted Itachi the grace period he'd requested for, but now to even think of maliciously spilling Itachi's blood made him sick. A voice that sounded strangely like Naruto's was shouting at Harumi in his mind, yelling about how she could just allow her husband to effectively pledge to die when he had a family to take care of. Sasuke found himself agreeing with the voice.

"Please consider my request, Rokudaime-sama," Itachi said again, softly. Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"_Sasuke_!" he snapped. "Don't call me that. My name is _Sasuke_."

"Sasuke," Itachi amended. Sasuke bit his tongue to prevent himself from giving Harumi a tongue-lashing. Now was probably not the prudent time to say anything, since he didn't know what the situation was between the husband and wife.

An awkward silence ruled for a while, until Itachi reached for the teapot but missed the handle and ended up almost knocking it over. Harumi quickly caught it and poured her husband another cup of tea. Sasuke's eyes had narrowed again at that, and a sinking feeling developed in his stomach.

"Itachi…"

"Yes, Sasuke?"

"You… you're going blind, aren't you?" Sasuke gritted out. In his lap, his hands were clenched tight in anticipation of the positive answer. It came too quickly and too nonchalantly for Sasuke's liking.

"Yes, I am."

Despite having expected that answer, Sasuke paled a little... Harumi noticed, and hastened to explain. "Tsunade-sama has looked at Itachi's eyes. She said there has been thickening of the blood vessels in the eyes, probably due to use of the Sharingan, and this has been the cause of his deteriorating eyesight. Cataracts have also developed, also due to Sharingan overuse."

"Mangekyou," Itachi corrected gently.

"Mangekyou overuse," Harumi said. She bowed her head a little. "Tsunade-sama has graciously offered to surgically correct the defects. She says it is not a permanent cure, but Itachi will retain his sight for another twenty-five to thirty years, provided he doesn't use the Sharingan excessively and the Mangekyou at all."

Sasuke struggled to form words. Itachi somehow sensed his distress, and a small smile curved his lips.

"It was a price I was aware of, Sasuke, and one I was willing to pay for your safety. I am willing to pay that price again if ever it becomes necessary for the well-being of my _family_." His subtle emphasis on the word _family_ left Sasuke no doubt at all that he was included in that category.

And now, having learned the truth, Sasuke knew just what it meant to be part of Itachi's family.

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**Glossary:** - Jichan : affectionate short form of ojisan, meaning uncle. Not to be confused for ojiisan, meaning grandfather

Otouto : little brother

Kotatsu : a low table with a heater

Hitai ate : forehead protector

Anata : what a wife uses to address her husband. It also means 'you'

Seiza : formal kneeling position. Use Google Images to get a better idea ;-)

Mangekyou : Kaleidoscope, the form of Itachi's Sharingan.

**The Author has More to Say:** Nihihihi! Hope you guys liked that. I cannot promise when the next update will be. In fact, I remember warning in the first chapter that I'm a sporadic updater. Not so much by choice, though. Don't forget to look up my profile for a notification!

Also - Shameless Self-Plugging! XD Read my new oneshot fic, **_Of Balls and Brides_**!

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!


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